PREMATURE BURIAL,
AND
HOW IT MAY BE PREVENTED.
w
PREAATURE BURIAL
AND
HOW IT WAY BE PREVENTED
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO TRANCE, CATALEPSY
AND OTHER FORMS OF SUSPENDED ANIMATION
BY
WILLIAM TEBB, F.R.G.S.
Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of Medical Sciences, Palermo,s
Author of " The Recrudescence of Leprosy and its Causation
AND
COL. EDWARD PERRY VOLLUM, M.D.
Late Medical Inspector, U.S. Army;
Corresponding Member of the Neiv York Academy of Sciences
SECOND EDITION
BY
WALTER R. HADWEN, M.D.
Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, London;
Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, England;
Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries, London
LONDON
SWAN SONNENSCHEIN 6
1905
PRESERVATION
SERVICES
DATE
" Such is the condition of humanity, and so uncertain is men's judgment, that
they cannot determine even death itself." — PLINY.
"The indisputable signs of death, an extraordinarily difficult question." — PROF.
THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY, F.R.S.
" It should never be forgotten that there is but one really trustworthy proof that
death has occurred in any given instance, viz., the presence of a manifest sign of
commencing decomposition." — SIR HENRY THOMPSON, F.R.C.S.
" We are obliged to acknowledge that we have no sign or group of signs sufficient
to determine the moment of death with scientific certainty in all cases."— PROF. P.
BROUARDEL, M.D.
" It is true that hardly any one sign of death, short of putrefaction, can be relied
upon as infallible." — British Medical Journal, October 31, 1885. p. 841.
" The thought of suffocation in a coffin is more terrible than that of torture on
the rack, or burning at the stake. Carelessness in this matter cannot be innocent ;
and ignorance in such a case is akin to crime. When we neglect precautions against
a fate so terrible, to which every one is thus liable, our tears are little less than hypo-
crisy and our mourning is a mockery." — PROF ALEXANDER WILDER, M.D.
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
A DISTRESSING experience in the writer's family many years ago
brought home to his mind the danger of premature burial, and
led ultimately to the careful study of a gruesome subject to which
he has a strong natural repugnance. His collaborator in the
volume has himselt passed through a state of profound suspended
animation from drowning, having been laid out for dead— an
experience which has induced him in like manner to investigate
the various death-counterfeits. The results of the independent
inquiries carried on by both of us in various parts of Europe
and America, and by one of us during a sojourn in India in the
early part of this year, are now laid before the reader, with such
practical suggestions as it is hoped may prepare the way for
bringing about certain needed reforms in our burial customs.
The danger, as I have attempted to show, is very real— to
ourselves, to those most dear to us, and to the community in
general ; and it should be a subject of very anxious concern
how this danger may be minimised or altogether prevented.
The duty of taking the most effective precautions to this end is
one that naturally falls to the Legislature, especially under a
Government professing to regard social questions as of paramount
importance. Fortunately, this is a non-party and a non-contentious
question, it imperils no interest, so that no formal obstruction
or unnecessary delay need be apprehended ; and it should be
urged upon the Government to introduce and carry an effective
measure at the earliest opportunity, not only as a security
against the possibility of so terrible an evil, but to quiet the
widespread and not altogether unreasonable apprehension on
this subject which is now so prevalent.
It has been found convenient to retain throughout the body
of the work the use of the singular pronoun, but every part of
the book receives the cordial approval of both authors, and with
this explanation we accept its responsibility jointly.
We have to acknowledge our great indebtedness in preparing
this volume to many previous writers, including such as have
investigated the phenomena of suspended animation and the
6 PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
signs of death, and such as, with a more practical intention
have dwelt upon the danger of death-counterfeits being mistaken
for the absolute extinction of life, illustrating their counsels or
warnings by numerous instances. Grouping both classes of
writers together, we may mention specially the names of
Winslow and Bruhier, Hufeland, Struve, Marcus Herz and
Koppen, Kite, Curry, and Anthony Fothergill ; and, of more
recent date, the names of Bouchut, Londe, Lenormand, and
Gaubert (on mortuaries), Russell, Fletcher, Franz Hartmann,
and Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson.
A work to which we are particularly indebted for the literature
of the subject is that of the late Dr. Felix Gannal, " Mort
Apparente et Mort Reelle : moyens de les distinguer." Paris,
1890. Dr. Gannal, having qualified in medicine and pharmacy,
occupied himself with the business of embalming, which he
inherited from his father. He employed the considerable
leisure which the practice of that art left to him in compiling
the above laborious work. He examined many books, pamphlets,
theses, and articles, from which he cited expressions of opinion
on the several points — in a lengthy form in his original edition
(1868), in a condensed form in the second edition. His
Bibliography is by far the most comprehensive that has been
hitherto compiled. Our own Bibliography had been put together
from various sources before we made use of Dr. Gannal's. It
includes several titles which he does not give ; while, on the
other hand, it has been considerably extended beyond its
original limits by transcribing titles which we have found
nowhere but in his list. The Bibliography, it need hardly be
said, is much more extensive than our own reading ; but it
seemed useful to make it as complete as possible, whether the
books had been seen by us or not, so as to show in chrono-
logical order how much interest had been aroused in the
subject from time to time — in one country more than another,
or in various countries together. The titles of articles in
journals, which belong for the most part to the more recent
period, have been taken from the Index Catalogue of the
Surgeon-General's Library, Washington, a few references being
added to articles which have otherwise come under our notice.
W. T.
INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EDITION.
A CONCURRENCE of peculiar circumstances, beginning in May
1895, has directed public attention in England to the subject of
premature burial, probably to a greater degree, so far as the
author's recollection serves, than at any time during the past
half-century. Amongst these may be mentioned the publication
of several recent cases of premature burial in the English and
American papers; the narrow escape of a child found in Regent's
Park, London, laid out for dead at the Marylebone Mortuary,
and afterwards restored to life; the issue in Boston, U.S., of Dr.
Franz Hartmann's instructive essay, entitled, " Buried Alive : an
Examination into the Occult Causes of Apparent Death, Trance,
and Catalepsy " (a considerable number of copies having been
sold in England), and the able leading articles and correspon-
dence on the subject in the Spectator, Daily Chronicle, Morning
Post, Leeds Mercury, The Jewish World, Plymouth Mercury,
Manchester Courier, To-Day, and many other daily and weekly
journals.
It is curious that, while many books and pamphlets relating
to this important subject have been issued in France and Ger-
many, no adequate and comprehensive treatise has appeared
from the English press for more than sixty years past, nor
writings in any form, with the exception of a paper by Sir
Benjamin Ward Richardson in No. 21 of the Asclepiad, pub-
lished in 1889, on the "Absolute Signs of Death," sundry articles
in the medical journals from time to time, and a London edition
of Dr. Hartmann's volume in January, 1896. The section upon
"Real and Apparent Death" in the 1868 edition of the late Pro-
fessor Guy's " Forensic Medicine " begins with the words, " This
subject has never attracted much attention in England, and no
medical author of repute has treated it at any length " — a remark
not less true after the lapse of a generation. The following
chapters have been prepared with the view, not so much of
supplying this omission, as of guiding the public to the dangers
8 INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EDITION.
of our present mode of treating the apparent dead, in the hope
that reforms and preventive measures may be instituted without
delay in order to put an end to such unnecessary domestic
tragedies.
In introducing the subject the author is aware that the great
majority of the medical profession in this country are either
sceptical or apathetic as to the alleged danger of living burial.
Many do not believe in the existence of death-trance or death-
counterfeits, and the majority of those who do believe in them
declare that cases are very rare, and that if consciousness is
ever restored in the grave it can only last a second or two, and
that those who live in fear of such an occurrence should provide
for a. post-mortem or for the severance of the jugular vein. Many
persons, on the other hand, after much careful inquiry, are of
opinion that cases of premature burial are of frequent occurrence;
and that the great majority of the human race (outside of a few
places in Germany, where waiting mortuaries are established, or
where the police regulations, such as those described in this
volume as existing in Wiirtemburg, are efficiently and systema-
tically carried out) are liable to this catastrophe. Important as
the subject is allowed to be, and numerous as are the reported
cases, no effective steps, either public or private, appear to have
been taken, outside of Germany and Austria, to remedy the evil.
At present a majority of the people appear content to trust to
the judgment of their relations and to the ordinary certificates
of death to safeguard them from so terrible a disaster. That
death-certificates and death-verifications are often of a most
perfunctory description, both as to the fact of death and the
cause of death, has been proved by overwhelming evidence
before the recent House of Commons Committee on Death-
Certification. Such certificates, when obtained, may be mis-
leading and untrustworthy; while in many cases burials take
place without the doctor having either attended the patient or
examined the body. Nor, in spite of the appointment of death-
verificators by our neighbours across the Channel, is this im-
portant precaution effectively carried out by them. M. Devergie
reports that in twenty-five thousand communes in France no
verification of death takes place, although the law requires it;
INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EDITION. 9
and he demands that no diploma shall be given without the
candidate having proved himself conversant with the signs of
death. (Medical Times, London, 1874, vol. i., p. 25.) On personal
inquiry from medical authorities in France, during the present
year (1896), we learn that this laxity still prevails.
It appears strange that, except when a man dies, all his con-
cerns are protected by custom and formalities, or guarded by laws,
so as to insure his interests being fairly carried out to completion.
Thus we see that heirship, marriage, business affairs of all kinds,
whether of a public or private nature, are amply guarded by such
precautionary and authoritative measures as will secure them.
But one of the most important of all human interests — that which
relates to the termination of life — is managed in such a careless
and perfunctory way as to permit of irreparable mistakes. To
be sure there are laws in most of the Continental States of Europe
that are intended to regulate the care and burial of the dead, but
few of them make it certain that the apparently dead shall not be
mistaken for the really dead, and treated as such. None of them
allow more than seventy-two hours before burial (some allow only
thirty-six, others twenty-four, and others again much less, accord-
ing to the nature of the disease), unless the attending physician
petitions the authorities for reasonable delay — a rare occurrence-
And even if postponement is granted, it is doubtful if the inevitable
administrative formalities would leave opportunities for dubious
cases to receive timely and necessary attention, or for cases of
trance, catalepsy, coma, or the like, to be rescued from a living
burial.
In the introduction to a treatise entitled "The Uncertainty of
the Signs of Death, and the Danger of Precipitate Interments/'
published in 1746, the author, Mr. M. Cooper, surgeon, says: —
"Though death at some time or other is the necessary and un.
avoidable portion of human nature, yet it is not always certain
that persons taken for dead are really and irretrievably deprived
of life, since it is evident from experience that many apparently
dead have afterwards proved themselves alive by rising from
their shrouds, their coffins, and even from their graves. It is
equally certain that some persons, too soon interred after their
supposed decease, have in their graves fallen victims to a death
2
10 INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EDITION.
which might otherwise have been prevented, but which they then
find more cruel than that procured by the rope or the rack." The
author quotes Lancisi, first physician to Pope Clement XL, who,
in his treatise " De Subitaneis Mortibus," observes : — " Histories
and relations are not the only proofs which convince me that
many persons supposed to be dead have shown themselves alive,
even when they were ready to be buried, since I am induced to
such a belief from what I myself have seen ; for I saw a person
of distinction, now alive, recover sensation and motion when the
priest was performing the funeral service over him in church."
After reporting and describing a large number of cases of pre-
mature burial, or of narrow escapes from such terrible occur-
rences, in which the victims of hasty diagnosis were prepared for
burial, or revived during the progress of the burial service, Mr.
Cooper continues : — " Now, if a multiplicity of instances evince
that many have the good fortune to escape being interred alive,
it is justly to be suspected that a far greater number have fallen
victims to a fatal confinement in their graves. But because
human nature is such a slave to prejudice, and so tied down by
the fetters of custom, it is highly difficult, if not absolutely impos-
sible, to put people on their guard against such terrible accidents,
or to persuade those vested with authority to take proper measures
for preventing them."
Nothing seems to have been done to remedy this serious evil ;
and forty-two years later Mr. Chas. Kite, a well-known practi.
tioner, called attention to the subject in a volume entitled " The
Recovery of the Apparently Dead," London, 1788. This author
on p. 92, says : — " Many, various, and even opposite appearances
have been supposed to indicate the total extinction of life. For-
merly, a stoppage of the pulse and respiration were thought to be
unequivocal signs of death; particular attention in examining the
state of the heart and larger arteries, the flame of a taper, a lock
of wool, or a mirror applied to the mouth or nostrils, were con-
ceived sufficient to ascertain these points ; and great has been the
number of those who have fallen untimely victims to this erroneous
opinion. Some have formed their prognostic from the livid, black,
and cadaverous countenance ; others from the heavy, dull, fixed,
or flaccid state of the eyes ; from the dilated pupil ; the foaming at
INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EDITION. I I
the mouth and nostrils, the rigid and inflexible state of the body,
jaws, or extremities; the intense and universal cold, etc. Some,
conceiving any one of these symptoms as incompetent and inade-
quate to the purpose, have required the presence of such of them
as were, in their opinion, the least liable to error; but whoever
will take the trouble of reading the Reports of the (Humane)
Society with attention, will meet with very many instances where
all the appearances separately, and even where several associated
in the same case, occurred, and yet the patient recovered ; and it
is therefore evident that these signs will not afford certain and
unexceptionable criteria, by which we may distinguish between
life and death."
Mr. Kite furnishes references to numerous cases of recovery
where the apparently dead exhibited black, livid, or cadaverous
countenances ; eyes fixed or obscure ; eyeballs diminished in
size, immovable and fixed in their sockets, the cornea without
lustre ; eyes shrivelled ; froth at the mouth ; rigidity of the
body, jaws, and extremities ; partial or universal cold.1
The crux of the whole question is the uncertainty of the signs
which announce the cessation of physical existence. Prizes have
been offered, and prizes have been awarded, but further experi-
ence has shown that the signs and tests, sometimes singly and
sometimes in combination, have been untrustworthy, and that
the only certain and unfailing sign of death is decomposition.
Commenting upon actual cases of premature burial, the Lancet,
March 17, 1866, p. 295, says: — "Truly there is something about
the very notion of such a fate calculated to make one shudder,
and to send a cold stream down one's spine. By such a
catastrophe is not meant the sudden avalanche of earth, bricks,
or stones upon the luckless miner or excavator, or the crushing,
suffocative death from tumbling ruins. No ; it is the cool,
determined treatment of a living being as if he were dead —
the rolling him in his winding sheet, the screwing him down in
his cofrin, the weeping at his funeral, and the final lowering of
1 "The Recovery of the Apparently Dead," by Charles Kite, Member of the
Corporation of Surgeons in London, and Surgeon at Gravesend in Kent. London,
1788.
12 INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EDITION.
him into the narrow grave, and piling upon his dark and box-like
dungeon loads of his mother earth. The last footfall departs
from the solitary churchyard, leaving the entranced sleeper
behind in his hideous shell, soon to awaken to a consciousness
and to a benumbed half-suffocated existence for a few minutes ;
or else, more horrible still, there he lies beneath the ground
conscious of what has been and still is, until, by some fearful
agonised struggle of the inner man at the weird phantasmagoria
which has passed across his mental vision, he awakes to a bodily
vivification as desperate in its torment for a brief period as has
been that of his physical activity. But it is soon past. There
is scarcely room to turn over in the wooden chamber ; and what
can avail a few shrieks and struggles of a half-stifled, cramped-up
man ! "
To prevent such unspeakable horrors as are here pictured,
the Egyptians kept the bodies of the dead under careful super-
vision by the priests until satisfied that life was extinct, previous
to embalming them by means of antiseptics, balsams, and odor-
iferous gums. The Greeks were aware of the dangers of
premature burial, and cut off fingers before cremation to see
whether life was extinct. In ancient Rome the recurrence of
cases of premature burial had impressed the nation with the
necessity for exercising the greatest caution in the treatment of the
supposed dead ; hasty conclusions were looked upon as criminalr
the absence of breath or heat or a cadaverous appearance were
regarded as uncertain tests, and the supposed dead were put
into warm baths or washed with hot water, and other means
of restoration adopted. Neither in the greater part of Europe
nor in the United States are any such means resorted to now,
except in the case of apparent death by drowning, by asphyxia,
or by hanging. Premature burials and narrow escapes are of
almost every-day occurrence, as the narratives in the newspapers
testify ; and the complaint made by a surgeon, Mr. Cooper, a
hundred and fifty years ago, that the evil is perpetuated because
we are slaves to prejudice, and because those vested with
authority refuse to take measures for prevention, remains a
serious blot upon our advanced civilisation. The Spectator^
September 14, 1895. commenting upon this unsatisfactory state
INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EDITION. 13
of affairs, observes :—" Burning, drowning, even the most hideous
mutilation under a railway train, is as nothing compared with
burial alive. Strangely enough this universal horror seems to
have produced no desire to guard against burial alive. We all
fear it, and yet practically no one takes any trouble to avoid
the risk of it happening in his own case, or in that of the rest
of mankind. It would be the simplest thing in the world to
take away all chance of burying alive ; and yet the world
remains indifferent, and enjoys its horror undisturbed by the
hope of remedy."
The authors' own reasonings, opinions, and conclusions are
here briefly presented ; but as the majority of the public are
oiore or less influenced by authority, it has been thought
advisable to furnish a series of authenticated facts under the
several headings to which they belong, and to cite the judgments
of eminent members of the medical profession who have given
special attention to the subject. The source of difficulty has
been an embarras de richesse, or how from a mass of material,
the extent of which will be seen by reference to the Biblio-
.graphy, to select typical cases without needless repetition. The
premature burials and narrow escapes from such disasters, which
are reported by distinguished physicans and reputable writers,
may be numbered literally by hundreds, and for every one
reported it is obvious from the nature of the case that many are
never heard of. Amongst the names of notable persons, who
have thought the subject sufficiently practical for their attention,
may be mentioned those of Empedocles, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero,
Pliny, Celsus, Plutarch, and St. Augustine in antiquity ; of
Fabricius, Lancisi, Winslow, Haller, Buffon, Lavater, Moses
Mendelssohn, Hufeland, and Alexander von Humboldt in modern
times.
The subject has several times engaged the attention of the
French Senate and Legislative Chamber, as well as the Legis-
lative Assemblies in the various States of Germany. In 1871,
Dr. Alex. Wilder, Prof, of Physiology and Physiological Science,
read a paper before the members of both houses of the New
York State Legislature at the Capitol, Albany ; but we are not
aware that the subject has ever been introduced in any of the
14 INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EDITION.
other State Legislatures, or in the British Parliament, or in any
of the Colonial Assemblies.
In an editorial note, as far back as November 27, 1858, the
Lancet, referring to a case of death-trance, remarked that such
"examples are sufficiently mysterious in their character to call
for a more careful investigation than it has hitherto been possible
to accord to them." The facts disclosed in this treatise, the
authors hope, may encourage qualified scientific observers to
study the subject of death-trance, which, it must be admitted,
has been strangely overlooked in England, though it would not
be easy to mention one which more deeply concerns every
individual born into the world.
In order to prevent unnecessary pain to the reader on a
subject so distressing in its nature, the more sensational and
horrifying cases of premature burial have been omitted. They
can, however, be found in abundance in the writings of Bruhier,
Koppen, Kempner, Lenormand, Bouchut, Russell Fletcher, and
the Boston (U.S.) edition of Hartmann. In England and in
America it is the fashion amongst medical men to maintain that
the tests known to medical art are fully equal to the prevention
of live burial, that the cases quoted by the newspapers are
introduced for sensational purposes, and that most of them are
apocryphal. The perusal of the cases recorded in this volume,
and a careful consideration of the weight of cumulative evidence
represented by the very full Bibliography, must satisfy the
majority of reflective readers that the facts are both authentic
and numerous.
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.
WHEN requested by Mr. William Tebb, the talented
author of " Premature Burial, and How it may be
Prevented," to undertake the editorship of a second
edition of this important work, for which there was
an increasing demand, I felt much reluctance in com-
plying with his wish, partly by reason of the pressure
of many public and professional duties, and partly
because the subject was one which had not been
studied by me with the exhaustiveness it demanded.
The fact, however, that an increasing weight of years
presses upon the venerable author, whom I hold in
the profoundest esteem, and his anxiety to see " some-
thing accomplished, something done," ere he ceased
from his labours, coupled with my appreciation of the
loss he had sustained in the death of his medical
collaborator, Col. Edward Perry Vollum, M.D., induced
me finally to accept the honour and responsibility.
The careful study of the subject which the work
has entailed, and the perusal of the evidence collected
from various parts of the world, which has accumu-
lated considerably since the first edition was published
in 1896, have convinced me of the real need in this
country of drastic and far-reaching reforms in connec-
tion with our burial system.
1 6 PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.
Cases occurring in the course of my own practice,
and cases which had come to my notice in the practice
of other medical men, have for years led me to realize
the dangers to which persons are liable under our
faulty method of certification. But until, by the help
of Mr. Tebb's and Col. Vollum's investigations, I under-
took a systematic study of the whole question, I was
not aware that facts so numerous and well authenti-
cated, and so widespread, connected with every branch
of the subject, were in existence.
The loss of Dr. Vollum to the cause of Burial
Reform is a real one. He was no ordinary man. For
a third of a century he held high positions of trust
under the United States Government, and his indomi-
table energy, good judgment, professional prominence,
and spotless public services earned for him the respect,
the confidence, and admiration of all who had the
good fortune to become associated with him. His
genius and energy during the great War of the
Rebellion brought him into the front rank of the men
of mark of his time: few of the many thousands of
sufferers who profited by his remarkable system of
medical organization knew at the time how much
they owed to Dr. Vollum's never-tiring zeal and ex-
traordinary skill. His fearlessness and integrity led
him, as medical inspector, to make ruthless war upon
soulless contractors, inefficient surgeons, neglectful
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. I/
nurses, upon fraud, drunkenness, and ignorance. Even
the dumb animals experienced his fostering care, and
a complete revolution in the veterinary service of the
United States army was the outcome of his strenuous
efforts. Nothing came amiss to him — whether systema-
tizing an ambulance service, or improving the army
ration and regulating the cooking, or establishing
industrial asylums for the healthful employment of
army pensioners, or formulating sanitary schemes to
improve the quarters and camps and health of the
soldiers, or forming insurance societies for the pro-
motion of thrift among the ranks. The name of Col.
Vollum was always and everywhere synonymous with
progress and reform. In addition to all the many
movements he initiated and advanced, he filled, dur-
ing the closing years of active service under Govern-
ment, the position of Corresponding Member of the
New York Academy of Sciences, as well as the
highly responsible post of President of Army Medi-
cal Examining Boards.
He passed away at Munich on 3ist May, 1902,
his death being due to congestion of the liver. His
body was cremated at Jena, and the ashes were in-
terred at Arlington, near Washington. A memorial
service was held in the capital, in the presence of a
•distinguished assembly.
Thus it is clear that the late Col. E. P. Vollum was
1 8 PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.
a man whose position, talents, character, and wealth
of experience were such as to entitle him to com-
mand respect, and whose judgment and veracity con-
cerning any subject he investigated were worthy of
the utmost consideration.
Dr. Vollum first became interested in the important
question of Premature Burial in consequence of his
own very narrow escape from live sepulture, having
been pronounced dead from drowning, and prepared,
for interment, when consciousness happily returned
spontaneously. It was he who inspired Dr. Franz
Hartmann to study the occult phenomena of apparent
death and living burial, the results appearing in a
volume of which editions have been printed in the
United States, England, and Germany. On more
than one occasion Col. Vollum was instrumental in
rescuing persons from the most horrible imaginable of
fates, in spite of the opposition and ridicule of
physicians, priests, and relatives, who loudly protested
against any delay in the obsequies of those whom
they erroneously declared to be unmistakably dead.
Numerous articles and letters from his pen appeared
in English and American papers, in all of which he
strongly deprecated the custom of hastily judging by
appearances, maintaining that putrefactive decomposi-
tion was the only sure proof of death.
By the lamentable decease of this eminent doctor,.
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. I9>
the London Association for the Prevention of Pre-
mature Burial has sustained irreparable loss, as was
recognized by the following resolution unanimously
adopted and placed upon the minutes of the society: —
"That the committee, having heard with much sorrow of the
death of Colonel Edward Perry Vollum, M.D., who, by his
collaboration with Mr. William Tebb in the authorship of that
now well-known work, ' Premature Burial, and How it may be
Prevented,' as well as in various other ways, has actively pro-
moted the cause of the association, desires to express its deep
sympathy with his family, and its sense of the great loss which
the movement has sustained by his decease."
Mr. Wm. Tebb, to whose pen we are mainly indebted
for the production of the first edition of this work
(the greater part of which was written by him in
India, in the year 1895), is still with us, watching
and advising in the compilation of the new edition
with all the keenness of his ardent nature in spite of
advancing years.
Born in Manchester — the birthplace of many notable
reformers — on the 22nd October, 1830, he was in his
youth during the stirring times when Cobden, Bright,
Fox, Thompson, Joseph Hume, Ebenezer Elliot, and
many others, roused the masses to a sense of the
injustice of the Corn Laws and the "protective system,"
and, catching the inspiration of these brilliant ex-
ponents of freedom and sympathy, a few years later
20 PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.
found him in Massachusetts, in the United States of
America, in the thick of the prolonged struggle for
the emancipation of four millions of slaves. He
became personally acquainted with William Lloyd
Garrison, the great anti-slavery apostle, with Wendell
Phillips, Theodore Parker, Adin Ballou, and other
leaders, and here by pen and voice assisted for
several years in exposing and denouncing the shameful
traffic in human flesh.
In order to pursue his investigations into the
subject of the present treatise, and to obtain first-
hand information calculated to assist him in the
remedying of other evils, especially those associated
with the spread of leprosy, Mr. Tebb has travelled
in nearly every portion of the globe.
Failing health and advancing years have now
compelled him to leave the more arduous work
connected with the various reforms with which his
name is associated, and which owe so much to his
zeal and enterprise, to younger men, whose privilege
it ever is to build upon the foundations laid for
them by the self-sacrificing efforts of old pioneers
who have stood grimly and fearlessly in early days
against the odds of custom, prejudice, influence, and
power.
My own work in the present volume has consisted
largely in bringing the treatise as far as possible up
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. 21
to date. Cases of less importance, appearing in the
first edition, have had to make way for those of
greater importance, and the work has been enlarged
to the extent of fifty extra pages in order to
accommodate new material.
The greatest care has been taken in selecting only
such illustrations of the subjects dealt with as appear
to be authentic, and on this account much reliance
has been placed upon the evidence and statements of
medical men. It is needless to say that, were all the
evidence which has accumulated of late years to be
printed, it would require a volume of considerably
larger dimensions than the present one.
The evidence, however, which has been adduced is
sufficient, both in variety and directness, to arouse the
careful and thoughtful reader to a realisation of the
important question which is hereby raised, and
demands that prompt action be taken by the British
legislature in order to guard against the repetition
in this country of the many awful incidents narrated
in the following pages.
WALTER R. HADWEN.
GLOUCESTER, October, 1904.
INTRODUCTION TO SECOND
EDITION.
THE fact that a second edition of this work has been
called for is sufficient evidence of the interest which
the subject of Premature Burial has created in the
public mind. There are still, however, persons who
look upon anyone who seriously touches this question
as a sensation-monger ; but among the masses of the
people of to-day, especially of the more thoughtful,
there is an undercurrent of suspicion that all is not
right, and it is increasingly felt that something should
be, and must be, done to remove every element of
•doubt which may be associated with the delicate
dividing line that lies between latent life and actual
death.
The peculiar directions laid down by numerous
testators, such as Herbert Spencer, Edmond Yates,
Miss Frances Power Cobbe, Wilkie Collins, and others ;
the feverish search for, and advocacy of, various in-
ventions by way of injections, of physical tests, and
of " safety coffins " ; and the increasing popularity of
cremation, all point to the anxiety which is felt lest
the horrible fate of premature burial should tragically
•close a life's career.
24 INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION.
It is to be regretted that medical tradition has;
encouraged the idea that the possibility of burying
alive is absurd. It is frequently urged, as an argu-
ment against our contention, that no such irreparable
mistake as is implied therein is ever likely to be
made by a medical man. That it is possible, however,
for medical men to make the serious mistake of
certifying as " dead " persons who are living will be
amply proved in the following pages ; but when it is
remembered that a medical man is entitled by law
to give a death-certificate without seeing the supposed
dead at all, and, moreover, that this is the usual
practice, it will be readily conceived that the " pro-
tection " claimed for the public does not rest upon
the most substantial foundation.
It has been repeatedly stated that the numerous
published instances of premature coffinment, premature
burial, and narrow escapes, have never been corrobo-
rated. Some writers, with amazing assumption, have
gone so far as to state that " not a single instance
of premature burial has ever been substantiated by
evidence such as would carry conviction to a critical
mind." I ask, in reply, why is it that, of the numerous
instances which have been published from time to
time, any attempt at disproof has rarely, if ever, been
forthcoming ?
If, however, but a tithe of the hundreds of horrifying
INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION. 25
tragedies which have been collected and recorded
by many scientific and painstaking authorities are
true, they form a sufficient ground for the fear
that, owing to the laxity of our laws, a still larger
number are consigned to the ghastliest of deaths.
And when, in addition to the fact that death-
certificates are usually given without any medical
inspection at all, it is remembered that the Home
Secretary, on the 5th of March, 1903, reported over
fifty-three thousand burials during the past five years
without even the formality of certifying the causes
of death, the sense of security will not be by any
means encouraged.
In commenting upon a Bill which has been laid
before the Massachusetts Legislature for the purpose of
guarding against premature burial, the Medical Press
of April 27, 1904, describes the stringent tests of
death which are therein proposed for adoption as
"elaborate nonsense," and the fear of being buried
alive is ridiculed by the editor as a "bogey." This
is not in accordance with the views of the most
eminent authorities in Europe, who have again and
again declared the danger to be a real one. The late
Professor Huxley, F.R.S., testified that the "sign of
death was an extraordinarily difficult question," and
Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, after many years of
investigation, finally stated, in the Asclepiad, that the
3
26 INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION.
only trustworthy sign of death was " distinct indication
of putrefactive decomposition."
Direct evidence as to premature burial is very
difficult to obtain, as the proportion of disinterments
to burials is only about one in fifty thousand ; but
there is sufficient evidence to show that the danger
exists. Dr. Franz Hartmann, who has devoted con-
siderable attention to this subject, states that during
the months of May and June, 1896, he received no
less than sixty-three letters from people who had
escaped burial alive at the last moment. In all, he
has collected over seven hundred cases, and furnished
details of over one hundred. The Lancet has borne
frequent testimony to these disasters ; and in its issue
of September 12, 1896, p. 785, is recorded the follow-
ing from its Cork correspondent as having occurred
at Little Island, Ireland, which, the writer says, is
thoroughly vouched for: — "A child of four years of
age contracted (typhoid) fever, and to all ordinary
appearances died. The time of the funeral was
appointed, and friends were actually on their way
to attend it. When the supposed corpse was about
to be removed from the bed to the coffin signs
of animation were exhibited. The services of the
medical man were again requisitioned, and the child,
opportunely rescued from such a terrible death, is
now progressing satisfactorily."
INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION. 2?
A "death" occurred in Cheltenham some years ago,
of which I was informed by a lady who was in the
house at the time. The funeral arrangements were
in full operation, when the " corpse " — a gentleman
of over seventy years of age — sat up, and lived for
more than two years in the full enjoyment of his
faculties, notwithstanding the fact that he had been
certified dead ! A gentleman of my acquaintance,
living in Brussels at the present time, was, some few
years ago, certified as dead by his medical attendant,
laid out for dead, and was just on the point of
being carried to the grave, when he gave signs of
life. Instances such as these point conclusively to
the dangers and the risks associated with death-
counterfeits, and the necessity there is to consider
seriously how such dangers and risks may be avoided.
The law protects the citizen's life, property, and
every other interest up to the moment when the death
scene supervenes; then it leaves him, and provides no
protection whatever against mistakes which may be
made at this supreme crisis. The extensive Biblio-
graphy at the close of this volume is sufficient to
show that a subject which has created so much
attention among the highest scientific authorities in
this and other countries is one which is worthy of
immediate and earnest consideration by the Legis-
lature. Every citizen has a fundamental right to life,
28 INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION.
and in the interests of the citizen, of his family, and
of the State, the latter should protect that right by
every means in its power, by guarding against its
sacrifice. The Medical Times and Hospital Gazette
of April 1 8, 1903, in a leading article on death-
certification, has well said: — "It must be remembered,
as we have more than once demonstrated, that there
is a powerful and increasing body of public opinion
in this country demanding some safeguard against
what is believed to be the possibility of burial alive,
in consequence of the present laxity of the law."
Our object is to press upon the public the urgent
necessity of enactment by Parliament — That no medical
certificate of death shall be accepted unless the person
signing it shall have seen and carefully examined the
body of the person so certified ; that such body shall
not be buried until the first sign of putrefaction is
apparent ; and that, in the interests of life and health,
attractive waiting mortuaries, somewhat after the
pattern of those erected on the Continent (described
in chapter xxii. of this edition), shall be provided by
every sanitary district in the kingdom.
WALTER R. HAD WEN.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
THE SPECTATOR (LONDON).
" An attempt to show that very great dangers exist from out
neglect of basing the decision that death has taken place upon any
symptom but the absolute one of putrefaction has just been made
in a very interesting book, entitled ' Premature Burial.' To do this
a very great number of cases of premature burial have been collected
and set forth. We are shown that these cases in fact occurred, be-
cause men are apt to count as signs of death signs which are not
absolute, and may only indicate suspended animation. From this the
writers argue, and as we think justly, that there should be a change
of the law as regards death certification, and as to the treatment of
bodies before interment."
THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW.
" The work on ' Premature Burial,' by Mr. Tebb and Col. E. P.
Vollum, has already attracted considerable notice, but we have not
been able to notice it as early as it deserved. The subject is a pain-
ful one, and it demands more attention than has yet been give to it,
though the twenty or more pages of the bibliography of the subject
appended to this volume show that it has not been neglected. But
from the frequency of the occurrences described, we are led to be-
lieve that people generally, and ordinary medical practitioners, do
not appreciate the seriousness of the matter. Without entering into
details, we hope that this book will meet with the attention it de-
serves, and that it may be the means of saving many people in future
from that most horrible fate imaginable, known as a ' living tomb.' '
DAILY NEWS (LONDON).
" A work well worthy of serious consideration. It would seem
that the Government might do worse than appoint a Royal Com-
mission to inquire into the whole subject of such allegations."
LEEDS MERCURY.
" ' Premature Burial ' deals with a subject that is a real source
of anxiety to a good many people, and which, to the disgrace of the
legislature, is not an altogether unreasonable trouble. We are too
casual in our methods of death registration ; too much latitude is
given to registrars of deaths, who, in the large majority of cases,
receive certificates from medical men who have not actually seen
30 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
the remains of those whose deaths they certify. We must do the
authors the justice to acknowledge that they have not quoted the
very ghastly cases on record, but those from reliable and scientific
men, who may be presumed to write without bias. Correspondence
in our own columns has shown that the fear of premature burial is
tolerably widespread, and if such books as this lead to the exercise
of more care on the part of responsible authorities, they will have
done good service. Altogether, it is a more reasonable book on this
subject than one generally gets hold of."
MANCHESTER COURIER.
" In the houses of the poor the delay (between death and burial)
is a cause of sorrowful inconvenience, and sometimes it is objected
to on sanitary grounds. Neither of these considerations, however,
can be allowed to weigh for a moment against the supreme im-
portance of verifying the fact of death. This is a point as to which
it is to be hoped there will be no giving way on the part of the
conservative instincts of our people. So long as it is maintained,
there can be no appreciable danger of the frightful contingency of
premature inhumation."
TO-DAY.
" Unfortunately the fact is beyond dispute that many people have
been buried alive, and have regained consciousness within the coffin.
Enough air is buried with a man in a coffin to support life for a
certain number of hours, and even beyond that air will filter through
earth."
THE SCOTSMAN.
" The book sets forth, with an extensive learning in the literature
of its subject (of which it gives a full bibliography), a number of
cases of live sepulture, and uses them as the basis of an argument
for legislation to establish waiting mortuaries, and take other pre-
cautions against such interments. The book will prove useful to
anyone interested in its subject.
NEWCASTLE CHRONICLE.
" Society is indebted to the authors for a scientific and tem-
perately written treatise, in which the more sensational and
horrifying cases are avoided, with the view of sparing the reader
unnecessary pain. There can be no question that the sooner this
subject is actively dealt with the better for the community."
HOMOEOPATHIC WORLD.
" An important work containing a vast amount of unimpeachable
evidence to show that a very real danger exists, and that strong
measures ought to be taken to safeguard the public against it."
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 31
PALL MALL GAZETTE.
" Horrible as are some of the details, they enforce the authors'
plea for more careful examination of the presumably dead, and their
arguments have great force."
LIVERPOOL POST.
" The moral of the book is that burial alive is a far greater
danger than most people suppose."
BIRMINGHAM DAILY GAZETTE.
" That there is real danger in hurried interments, no one who
glances at this volume can doubt, and the authors' contention that
the subject of the book should be legislated upon is reasonable. The
book is greatly enhanced in value by an exhaustive bibliography and
an excellent index."
BRISTOL TIMES.
" The whole subject is exhaustively treated in this volume, which
people interested would do well to give their careful perusal. It is
extremely well done."
SHEFFIELD TELEGRAPH.
11 A valuable and interesting volume."
BELFAST NEWS LETTER.
" The work sets forth some very convincing statements, and has
fully justified the authors in presenting their joint opinion on a
subject that ought to concern the community. They adduce quite a
plethora of evidence to sustain their contention."
THE CHRISTIAN WORLD.
" An elaborate treatise touching every side of this subject bears
the signatures of William Tebb, F.R.G.S., and Colonel Edward
Perry Vollum, M.D., both of whom have had personal experiences
of a kind that leads them to think that many people are daily buried
alive. The uncertainty of the signs of death is dealt with at great
length, and historical and contemporaneous cases of recovery from
apparent death are cited."
THE LITERARY WORLD (LONDON).
" The subject of premature burial is one of universal interest, and
those who have it at heart cannot do better than make themselves
as familiar with the subject as the exhaustive work before us admits.
The writers have brought together a mass of facts and figures bear-
ing on the question, and their conclusions are not to be denied or
their labour undervalued. The book may strike a chord of interest,
and arrest an attention that will be the means of a thorough recon-
sideration of our burial customs."
32 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
THE TWO WORLDS (MANCHESTER).
"As the study of these counterfeits of death forms no part of the
ordinary medical curriculum, it is no great wonder that these fatal
and terrible mistakes do occur. The subject is one of deep and vital
interest to the whole community."
DAILY CHRONICLE.
" There is no doubt that the law should require a certificate from
the doctor, not only that he had attended the patient in his last
illness, and that he was suffering from a disease likely to cause
death, but that he (the doctor) had also inspected the body and had
satisfied himself of the fact that death had actually occurred."
PLYMOUTH MORNING NEWS.
" The book is calculated to arouse public interest in an important
but much neglected subject, and it will be well for it to receive that
attention to which the gravity of the question entitles it."
THE HOSPITAL (LONDON).
" The book is nicely got up, and is of a popular readable char-
acter. "
THE BRITISH WEEKLY (LONDON).
" An able and elaborate monograph, which it treats in the most
thorough and exhaustive fashion, with innumerable references and a
bibliography of the \vhole subject in many tongues. It is simply
horrifying to learn that the risk of being buried alive is quite real,
and considerably greater than ordinary persons imagine."
THE COUNCILLOR AND GUARDIAN (LONDON).
" No one with an open mind could read the volume without
coming to the conclusion that the authors had succeeded in estab-
lishing a very strong case."
THE HERALD OP HEALTH (LONDON).
" The subject of this book is of deep and universal interest, and
should be specially so to all who are concerned with our physical well-
being and the preservation of healthy human life to the utmost
limit that nature permits. Indeed, its importance is generally
recognised in the abstract ; but little is done or attempted to give
practical effect to this recognition. No doubt this is mainly due to
ignorance or inadvertence, and to the fallacy too often fostered by
medical authority that the risk, if any, is so utterly insignificant tha't
practically it may be disregarded as of no moment and need not be
taken into account. As a matter of fact, however, the writers have
clearly shown by reference to well-authenticated instances that such
cases are not so infrequent as is generally supposed. Indeed, the
newspapers of the day give abundant examples of those who have
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 33
narrowly escaped this ghastly fate, and it is much to be feared that
its fatal completion is still more common. The authors of this book
appear each to have pursued a separate line of investigation ; the
one was led, to it from the circumstance that a relative was believed
to be the subject of premature burial, and the other from having
himself been laid out for dead, and having but narrowly' escaped
that terrible catastrophe against which he now raises his warning
voice. The subject under consideration has of late been much
debated in the newspapers, but the interest in it is by no means of
recent origin, as is shown by the bibliography appended to this
volume, the titles of books and pamphlets on the subject alone, as
there given, occupying no less than twenty-five pages ; but it may
well be doubted if it has ever before received such systematic search-
ing and thorough treatment as in the present work.
" Fortunately, this is no class or party question, no vested interest
is threatened, and the time appears singularly opportune for prompt
and effective legislation to allay widespread popular apprehension,
which, unchecked, might become a panic."
HEALTH.
" Of all the various forms of suspended animation and apparent
death, trance and catalepsy are the least understood and the most
likely to lead the subject of them to a premature burial, and
to these the authors have devoted considerable attention, and other
interesting chapters deal with the questions of animal and so-called
human hibernation, premature burial, probable causes of premature
burial, predisposing causes and conditions of death-counterfeits, the
danger of hasty burials, the signs of death, the duration of death
counterfeits, death certification, the Jewish practice of early burial,
etc.
"In order to prevent unnecessary pain to the reader on a
subject so distressing in its nature, the more sensational cases of
premature burial have been omitted, but these can be found in
abundance in the writings of Bruhier, Koppen, Kempner, Lenor-
mand, Bouchut, Russell Fletcher, and others."
THE WEEKLY TIMES AND ECHO.
11 ' Premature Burial ' deserves careful perusal and serious con-
sideration. We fully believe the medical profession are blind, as a
rule, to the necessity for greater care in the giving of death certifi-
cates, and that the danger of burying people who have not really
died is a growing and ghastly one. The numerous cases recorded
in this volume must convince any unbiassed reader that this is the
case."
THE HUMANITARIAN.
" This book is a substantial well-printed octavo volume of four
hundred pages divided into twenty-two chapters, each dealing with
some particular phase of the general subject, such as tranco.
catalepsy, premature burial, narrow escapes from premature burial,
predisposing causes and conditions of death counterfeits, the danger
34 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
of hasty burials, death certificates, and suggestions for prevention.
The authors tell us that the work has been prepared with the view
to guiding the public to the dangers of our present mode of treating
the apparently dead, in the hope that reforms and preventive
measures may be instituted without delay in order to put an end
to such unnecessary domestic tragedies.
" There are also six appendices and a valuable bibliography.
Although attention has of late been largely directed to this question
by discussions in the press, and considerable interest in it has been
revived, probably many will be surprised to find that the question
raised is by no means of recent origin, and that those who have
written upon it have not been a few alarmists and faddists, but in
many cases men of the highest reputation and scientific attainment.
" Notwithstanding the number of books mentioned in the biblio-
graphy appended to this volume, there can be no doubt that this
is the most valuable and important contribution to the literature of
the subject in the English language which has yet appeared ; it may
not be such attractive reading as the fashionable novel, and some
of its details may appear gruesome, but its importance can hardly
be over-estimated.
" The book is thoroughly scientific in its spirit and its treatment
of the question ; it is temperately written, and its bibliography a
monument of careful and laborious research, its exact reference to-
the numerous authorities quoted makes it not only valuable as a
useful book for present reading but for future reference. We cordially
commend it, and have no doubt that it will be largely instrumental
in attaining the laudable object for which it has been written."
WESTERN MAIL (CARDIFF).
" Though attempts have been made in certain quarters to pooh-
pooh the subject, no one who reads this work can doubt that burial-
alive is by no means an uncommon occurrence. There is ample
reason for the appearance of the book."
BIRKENHEAD NEWS.
"A priori, one would think that it is easy enough to tell when a
man is dead, or at least for the qualified medical man to do so. But
in view of the lamentable mistakes that are on record, one comes
to the conclusion that there are instances where it is very difficult,
if not impossible for anyone to say for certain that life is extinct.
Time alone will show."
THE INDIAN SPECTATOR (BOMBAY).
" There are few things that serve to inspire in men's minds
greater terror than the idea of being buried alive. The authors
cite a number of cases to show that the ceasing of the principle of
life to manifest its activity in a human body is no proof of actual
death. After presenting convincing proofs of the accuracy and1
frequency of such cases, they proceed to formulate methods by which
the cruel practices should be discouraged for the future."
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 35
SATURDAY REVIEW.
" Many of the points to which they (the authors) draw attention,
the perfunctory fashion, for instance, in which death certificates are
made out, are worthy of earnest consideration."
LIGHT.
" We are glad to see that Mr. Tebb and Dr. Vollum's important
work on ' Premature Burial and how it may be Prevented ' is attract-
ing considerable attention. The book has special reference to trance,
catalepsy, and other forms of suspended animation, and is therefore
of peculiar interest to us. It is not at all necessary to attempt to
work up feeling on the subject, and the writers of this book avoid
it. They are practical men, and understand how to let facts speak
for themselves. The larger half of the book deals with the danger ;
and here the demonstration is complete. A discussion of remedies
follows, the one most relied upon being mortuaries, the structure
and management of which are carefully described. These, say our
authors, ' ought to be provided, as far as practicable, in every parish,
and certainly in every Sanitary District in the United Kingdom,
and by the Boards of Health in the United States, and adapted to
the requirements of the population. ' We entirely agree. This is
the remedy, as anyone would see who would carefully read Chapter
XXI. of this helpful book, a chapter which ought to be printed
separately and well distributed to county and parish councils."
MEDICAL TIMES AND HOSPITAL GAZETTE.
" This book is essentially practical, well written, free from dry-
ness or redundancy. Though it does not profess to establish an
absolute method of guaranteeing us all from the horrors of prema-
ture interment, still it teems with so much practical information on
the subject that our boasted modern sanitary science must be poor
indeed if it learns naught therefrom. We agree with its implication
that from an over-worked and not over-practical Parliament little
amelioration is at present to be hoped for, but that assuredly private
initiative in these days of philanthropic associations ought to
supplement this. And no better step can be taken in that direction
than by promoting the circulation and careful perusal of the most
able work we have yet encountered on this all-important subject."
THE EXAMINER (CEYLON).
" One of the authors visited Ceylon, at the beginning of this year,
and cites facts from the customs in vogue in this island to show that
there is absolutely no security against premature burial, with the
names of various authorities. Some sensible and practical sugges-
tions are made to prepare the way for bringing about certain needed
reforms."
MEDICAL RECORD (NEW YORK).
''The pages are replete with instructive though at times gruesome
details, and the subject is one of such vast importance that it would
36 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
be well for all medical men who are not already familiar with its
literature to read the book and remember the lesson it teaches. Any-
thing" must be welcome which will tend to remove the senseless fear
of the dead, and prevent friends from deserting the bedside the
moment life is supposed to be extinct, giving over the body to those
who will immediately take steps to complete the extinction rather
than to fan back into life any spark of vitality which may remain
in a doubtful case."
NEW YORK HERALD.
" An exhaustive treatise into the causes of premature burial and
on the methods of preventing this terrible danger, which is likely to
attract g-eneral attention. There is something- about the mere idea of
being buried alive which causes one to shudder, and when specialists
affirm that the number of cases of premature burial are numbered by
thousands, the question becomes one which appeals to the sympathy
and co-operation of the community at large."
BOSTON (U.S.) HERALD.
" The authors have examined into the causes of suspended anima-
tion, and studied the literature on the subject. They furnish proofs
to show that many people are buried alive in all countries not pro-
tected by laws. The present serious discussion should open people's
eyes to a real dang-er. "
CONTENTS
I'AGR
Preface to First Edition - 5
Introduction to First Edition
Preface to Second Edition - 15
Introduction to Second Edition 23
Opinions of the Pyess - 29
CHAPTER I.
Trance 4 1
CHAPTER II.
Catalepsy 57
CHAPTER III.
Animal and So-called Human Hibernation 68
CHAPTER IV.
Premature Burial 81
CHAPTER V.
Narrow Escapes from Premature Burial - 98
CHAPTER VI.
Formalities and their Fatal Consequences - 133
CHAPTER VII.
Premature Burial of Doubtful Cases . .V;.. - 141
38 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII. PAGE
Predisposing Causes and Conditions of Death- Counterfeits 149
CHAPTER IX.
Premature Burial and Cremation in India, The Towers
of Silence 159
CHAPTER X.
The Danger of Hasty Burials - 175
CHAPTER XL
Fear of Premature Burial - 1 86
CHAPTER XII.
Sudden Death - 194
CHAPTER XIII.
Signs of Death - 219
CHAPTER XIV.
Duration of Death-Counterfeits - 248
CHAPTER XV.
The Treatment of the Dead - - 256
CHAPTER XVI.
Number of Cases of Premature Burial - -261
CHAPTER XVII.
Embalming and Dissections - - 277
CHAPTER XVIII.
Death-Certification - 282
CHAPTER XIX.
Suggestions for Prevention - 303
CONTENTS. 39
CHAPTER XX. PAGK
Count Karnice-Karnicki's Invention - - 320
CHAPTER XXL
Cremation as a Preventive - 324
CHAPTER XXII.
Waiting Mortuaries 335
CHAPTER XXIII.
Conclusion - - 366
APPENDIX A.
Historical Cases of Restoration from Apparent Death - 371
APPENDIX B.
Resuscitation of Still-Born and other Infants - - 386
APPENDIX C.
Recovery of the Drowned 392
APPENDIX D.
Embalming in the United States - 395
APPENDIX E.
Summary of Ordinances, etc., Relating to the Inspection of
Corpses and of Interments - - 398
APPENDIX F.
The Jewish Practice of Early Burial - 406
Bibliography - 409
Index - . . . . . 441
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
William Tebb Frontispiece.
Count Karnice-Karnickis Apparatus - 321 , 323
Munich Mortuary, Exterior - -341
Munich Mortuary, Interior - - 343, 345
Munich Mortuary, Caretaker 's Room - 347
PREMATURE BURIAL,
AND
HOW IT MAY BE PREVENTED.
SOME FORMS OF SUSPENDED ANIMATION.
CHAPTER I.
TRANCE.
OF all the various forms of suspended animation and
apparent death, trance and catalepsy are the least
understood, and the most likely to lead the subject of
them to premature burial ; the laws which control them
have perplexed pathologists in all ages, and appear to
be as insoluble as those which govern life itself.
ITS NATURE AND SYMPTOMS.
In an interesting article upon the subject by A. T.
Myers, M.A., M.D., M.R.C.P., which appears in " Fowler's
Dictionary of Practical Medicine," the writer says : —
" Trance, in the ordinary sense, is a term of somewhat
vague limits, but had best, perhaps, be confined to a
prolonged and rare condition of abnormal sleep, which
is produced by no known external agency, is generally
4
42 TRANCE.
entirely passive, in which the vital functions are reduced
to an abnormally low minimum, and from which the
entranced patients cannot be aroused by such ordinary
excitants as would be more than sufficient to wake them
from normal sleep. They can assimilate food artificially
given, and may remain in this trance condition for as
long as twenty-three weeks (Gairdner), or even for a
year (P. Richer). . . . There is an absence, complete
or incomplete, of sensation, and, in a less degree, of
motion ; and of deep and superficial muscular reflexes.
The breathing becomes nearly imperceptible, it may
even be impossible to see any cloud on a clear mirror
held before the mouth ; the respiratory movements may
be imperceptible, or at least so infrequent as three in
two minutes, the pulse and the action of the heart may
be impalpable, though the condition of the retina will
show that very slow circulation is still being kept up.
The temperature is low, but has not been observed below
97° F.»
ITS VARIATIONS AND DANGERS.
In Fagge & Pye Smith's Text-book of Medicine, 4th
edition, vol. L, p. 972, the authors, commenting upon the
symptoms as described above, remark: — "These are the
cases \vhich have led to the popular belief that death is
sometimes only apparent, and that there may be a
danger of persons being buried alive ; and it cannot be
denied that a patient in such a condition may easily be
allowed to die by careless or ignorant attendants, or
might be buried before death." Dr. Herbert Mayo, in
" Letters on Truths contained in Popular Superstitions,"
p. 34, after detailing similar signs and symptoms, asserts :
— " There has occurred every shade of this condition that
ITS VARIATIONS AND DANGERS. . 43
can be imagined, between the occasional slight mani-
festations of suspension of one or other of the vital
functions, and their entire disparition." He adds: — " In
any form of disease where the body is brought into a
certain state of debility, death-trance may supervene."
Macnish, who says the function of the heart must
go on, and even of the lungs, however slightly,
declares : — " No affection to which the animal frame is
subject, is more remarkable than this. . . . There is
such an apparent extinction of every faculty essential to
life, that it is inconceivable how existence should go on
during the continuance of the fit." — (Philosophy of
Sleep, Glasgow, 1834, pp. 225-6.)
In " Quain's Dictionary of Medicine," 1902, Dr. W. R.
Gowers says : — " The mental functions seem in most cases
to be in complete abeyance. No manifestation of
consciousness can be observed or elicited by the most
powerful cutaneous stimulation, and on recovery no
recollection of the state is preserved ; but in some
Ceases volition only is lost, and the patient is aware of all
that passes, although unable to give the slightest
evidence of consciousness."
"In the cases in which the depression of the vital
functions reaches an extreme degree, the patient appears
dead to casual, and sometimes to careful, observation.
This condition has been termed 'death-trance' (Schein-
tod). Persons have certainly been buried in this state;
and during the recent epidemic of influenza, an Italian
narrowly escaped interment during the consequent trance."
Dr. Gowers quotes a well-authenticated case mentioned
by Mr. John Chippendale, F.R.C.S., in the Lancet, 1889,
vol. i., p. 1,173, °f a man, who during an illness was
44 TRANCE.
seized with trance, and who yet, whilst lying in " cold
abstraction," was aware of all that was passing. At last,
as he was about to be covered in his coffin, his mental
condition was such, that he broke into a profuse sweat,
which was fortunately perceived, and he recovered, and
was able to recount his experiences.
He further mentions a case, observed by Rosenthal,
where, thirty hours after supposed death, the muscles
were still excitable, and in forty hours the patient awoke.
Dr. Mason Good, in " Standard of Medicine," vol. v., p.
6 1 -8, relates a case of " death-trance," in which a patient
was fortunate enough to have her interment postponed in
order to allow a post mortem (!) examination to be made.
On being submitted to the scalpel, the first touch
brought her to her senses, and threw her into a state of
violent agitation, the anatomist being almost as frightened
as herself.
CONDITIONS INFLUENCING TRANCE.
Hufeland says in his " Uncertainty of Death " : —
" It often happens that a person is buried in a trance,
knowing all the preparations for the interment, and this
affects him so much that it prolongs the trance by its
depressing influence. How long can a man exist in a
state of trance ? Is there no sign by which the remain-
ing spark of life may be recognised ? Do no means
exist to prevent awakening in the grave ? Nothing can
be said as to its duration ; but we do know that differ-
ences in the cause and circumstances will cause a differ-
ence in duration. The amount of strength of the person
would have great effect in this. Weak persons, broken
down by excesses, would die sooner than the strong.
CONDITIONS INFLUENCING TRANCE. 45
>
The nature of the disease would make a difference.
Old age is less liable to trance than the young. Long
sickness destroys the sources of life, and shortens the
process of death. Sorrow and trouble, and numerous
Diseases, seem to bring on death ; yet ofttimes the source
of life in them exists to its full extent, and what seems
in them to be death may be only a fainting fit, or cramp,
which temporarily interrupts the action of life. Women
are more liable to trance than men ; most cases have
happened in them. Trance may exist in the new-born ;
give them time, and many of them revive. The smell
of the earth is at times sufficient to wake up a case of
trance. Six or seven days, or longer, are often required
to restore such cases." (Extracted from pp. 10-24.)
NOTABLE INSTANCES.
Many notable persons have at one time or another been
subject to this disorder. Speaking of Benjamin Disraeli,
Mr. J. Fitzgerald Molloy, in his " Life of the Gorgeous
Lady Blessington," vol. xi., pp. 37-38, says that in his
youth he was seized with fits of giddiness during which
the world would swing round him ; he became abstracted
and once fell into a trance, from which he did not recover
for a week.
The mother of General Lee, the well-known Confede-
rate General in the American Civil War, was subject to
trance seizures, and on one occasion was pronounced
dead by the physician, and " buried." Whilst, however, the
sexton was filling in the grave, he heard loud crying and
knocking, and Mrs. Lee was rescued from her perilous
position and a horrible fate.
A romantic but true story attaches to Mount Edg-
46 TRANCE.
cumbe. In the church which adjoins the estate, the
grandmother of the present earl was buried alive. In a
trance she was laid for dead in the family vault. It was
known that upon one of her fingers was a precious ring.
The sexton went at dead of night, and endeavoured to*
force the trinket from the lady's hand. It aroused
her, and she sat up. The man fled in terror, leaving the
doors of the vault and church open. Lady Mount
Edgcumbe walked to her house in her shroud. Upon
being received by her husband she fainted. When she
revived, she found herself in bed, dressed in her ordinary
sleeping attire. She was induced to believe that she
had been the victim of a hideous nightmare, and never
knew the real circumstances.
The late Madame Blavatsky was subject to death-
like trances, and Dr. Franz Hartmann informs me that
she would have been buried alive if Colonel Olcott had
not telegraphed to let her have time to awaken.
Schwartz, the first eminent Indian missionary, was
roused from his supposed death by hearing his favourite
hymn sung over him previous to the last rites being
performed, and his resuscitation was made known by his
joining in the verse.
REMARKABLE CASE OF LETHARGIC STUPOR.
The Lancet, of December 22, 1883, pp. 1078-80,
contains particulars from the pen of W. T. Gairdner,
M.D., L L.D., etc., Professor of Medicine in the Uni-
versity of Glasgow, of a remarkable case of trance,,
extending continuously over more than twenty-three
weeks, which attracted a considerable amount of notoriety
at the time, and led to an extensive discussion. In his
REMARKABLE CASE OF LETHARGIC STUPOR. 47
comments upon the case, the author continues in the
issue of January 5, 1884, pp. 5-6: — "The peculiar in-
terest of the present case is that it is altogether devoid
of ... romantic incidents. The patient is a mother
of a family, and has lived a strictly domestic and (up to
a short time before her seizure) healthy and regular life.
There is no history of inveterate hysteria, or of long
continued rapt contemplation ; nor has there been the
slightest evidence of any craving after notoriety, either
before the attack, or since its termination. The moral
atmosphere, in short, surrounding the phenomena, is alto-
gether unfavourable to exaggeration and imposture, for
which, indeed, no reasonable motive can be assigned.
Nevertheless, under these very commonplace conditions,
concurring with some degree of melancholy or mental
despondency after delivery, but, during a convalescence
otherwise normal, Mrs. M'l presents to our notice a
condition of suspended consciousness and disordered in-
nervation in no degree less extreme than the " trances "
or cataleptic attacks which have been recorded as the
result of the most aggravated hysteria, or as the miracles
of religious ecstacy and profound mental emotion. She
becomes, for the long period of over a hundred and sixty
days continuously, an almost mindless automaton, con-
nected with the external world only through a few
insignificant reflexes, and through the organic functions.
She is absolutely passive as regards everything that
demands spontaneous movement, and betrays almost no
sign of sensation, general or special, when subjected to the
several tests that can be applied short of physical injury."
In further notes upon the case in the Lancet, of January
12, 1884, p. 58, Professor Gairdner cites the case of a
48 TRANCE.
woman of small stature, and weak mental capacity, aged
27, who, when under the care of Dr. Langdon Down, at
the London Hospital, became suddenly somnolent, and
had to be fed by nutrient enemata for three weeks, and
for some days by a tube forced through the nostrils into
the stomach. Dr. Langdon Down furnished him with
the following interesting particulars.
" My patient, who was in a state of trance, recovered
somewhat suddenly after about four weeks, and left the
hospital. The first indication of returning consciousness
was observed when I was reading to my class at her bed-
side one of the numerous letters that I had received en-
treating me not to have her buried until something which
the writers recommended had been done. The para-
graph of the Medical Journal got into some Welsh paper,
and then went the round of the provincial press ; hence
the number of letters I received. This special one was
from an old gentleman of 84 years, who, when he was
24, was thought to be dead, and whose friends had
assembled to follow him to the grave, when he heard the
undertaker say : — ' Would anyone like to see the corpse
before I screw him down ? ' The undertaker at the same
time moved the head a little, and struck it against the
coffin, on which he aroused, and sat up. On reading this
aloud a visible smile passed over the face of my patient,
and she returned to obvious consciousness soon after.
She has not come under observation since she left the
hospital."
A PHYSICIAN'S PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
Thomas More Madden, M.D., F.R.C.S. (Edin.), in an
article on " Death's Counterfeit " in the Medical Press
A PHYSICIAN'S PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. 49
and Circular, vol. i., April 27, 1887, pp. 386-8, relates
the following cases of " so-called hysteric trance " : —
" A young lady, Miss R , apparently in perfect
health, went to her room after luncheon to make some
change in her dress. A few minutes afterwards she was
found lying on her bed in a profound sleep, from which
she could not be awakened. When I first saw her
twenty-four hours later, she was sleeping tranquilly, the
decubitus being dorsal, respiration scarcely perceptible,
pulse seventy, and extremely small ; her face was pallid,
lips motionless, and the extremities very cold. At this
moment, so death-like was her aspect, that a casual
observer might have doubted the possibility of the vital
spark still lingering in that apparently inanimate frame,
on which no external stimulus seemed to produce any
sensorial impression, with the exception that the pupils
were normal and responded to light. Sinapisms were
applied over the heart and the legs, where they were left
on until vesication was occasioned without causing any
evidence of pain. Faradisation was also resorted to
without effect. In this state she remained from the
evening of December 3ist until the afternoon of January
3rd, when the pulse became completely imperceptible ;
the surface of the body was icy cold, the respiratory
movements apparently ceased, and her condition was
to all outward appearance undistinguishable from death.
Under the influence of repeated hypodermic injections
of sulphuric ether and other remedies, however, she
rallied somewhat, and her pulse and temperature
improved. But she still slept on until the morning of
the Qth, when she suddenly woke up, and to the great
astonishment of those about her, called for her clothes,
50 TRANCE.
which had been removed from their ordinary place, and
wanted to come down to breakfast, without the least
consciousness of what had occurred. Her recovery, I
may add, was rapid and complete.
" The next case of lethargy that came under my
notice was that of a boy, who, after an attack of fever, fell
into a state of complete lethargic coma, in which he lay
insensible between life and death for forty-seven days,
and ultimately recovered perfectly.
" In a third instance of the same kind, in a lady
under my care, the patient, after a lethargic sleep of
twenty-seven days, recovered consciousness for a few
hours, and then relapsed into her former comatose
condition, in which she died.
" The fourth case of lethargy which I have seen was,
like the first, a case of trance, which lasted for seventy
hours, during which the flickering vital spark was only
preserved from extinction by the involuntary action of
the spinal and nervous centres. In this instance the
patient finally recovered.
" The fifth and last instance of profound lethargy that
has come within my own observation occurred last
autumn, in the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, in a young
woman In that instance, despite all that
medical skill could suggest, or unremitting attention
could do, it was found impossible to arouse the patient
from the apparently hysterical lethargic sleep in which
she ultimately sank and died."
I have referred to the foregoing cases occurring in one
physician's experience, as disproving the general opinion
that lethargy or trance is so rarely met with as to be of
little medical importance. For my own part, I have no
A PHYSICIAN'S PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. 51
doubt that these conditions are of far more frequent oc-
currence than is generally supposed. Moreover, I have
had reason to know that death is occasionally so
exactly thus counterfeited that there is good cause for
fearing the probability of living interment in some cases
of hasty burial.
EXTRACTS FROM MEDICAL LITERATURE.
Dr. Madden observes concerning " Death-Trance " : —
" Although the majority of cases in which persons in this
condition are said to have been consigned to the horrors
of a living tomb have even less vraisemblance than the
tale which Edgar Poe founded on the same topic, still
there can be no doubt of the actual occurrence of such a
calamity in some well authenticated instances."
The above medical writer has made an exhaustive
collection of remarkable cases of trance from the pages
of medical literature. For instance, he quotes a case
from "Philosophical Transactions" as far back as 1694,
of a man aged 25, who slept for nearly a month. Two
years later he again fell into lethargy, and at first ate,
drank, etc., though unconsciously, but at length ceased
doing so altogether, and continued to hibernate for seven-
teen weeks. In August he fell asleep again, and did not
wake until November.
Another case, recorded in the 8th volume of " The
Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh," is of
a girl who slept uninterruptedly from the 1st of July
until the 1st of August.
And a still further case, noticed by Dr. Cooke in his
" Treatise on Nervous Diseases," is that of a young
lady who was for some time subject to repeated
52 TRANCE.
attacks of lethargy varying in duration from thirty to
sixty-three hours without seeming to have suffered from
want of food or otherwise. In the early part of the
disease various means were employed without the smal-
lest advantage, save that, whilst under the influence of
mercury, which produced a very severe salivation, she
was free from the complaint, and at length she became
deranged.
Diembroeck narrates the story of a rustic who was
supposed to have died of the plague, and was laid out
for interment three days before he could be carried to
the grave. When in the act of being buried, he showed
signs of life, recovered, and lived for many years.
Dr. Alexander Wilder writing upon this subject says:
— " I have a letter from Dr. Anna E. Park, 367 West
Twenty-third Street, Xew York City, in which she states
that she herself had been three times in danger of being
buried alive."
THE HUMAN DORMOUSE.
The remarkable case of Marguerite Bozenval, " The
Dormouse of Menelles," caused a great sensation for
many years. The Paris correspondent of the Morning
Leader, in a communication dated February I, 1903,
drew attention to the case, and on the 29th of May
her death was reported in the same journal. She had
been in a trance for 20 years. In 1883, when a girl of 21,
she had a child ; and her companion, as a joke, told her
one day soon afterwards, that the police had come to
arrest her. She instantly became unconscious, and, until
a day or two before her death, she was never aroused
from her unconscious condition. Her mouth and eyes
were always closed, but she was fed by a tube which
THE HUMAN DORMOUSE. 53
was inserted in her mouth, after the doctors had broken
a tooth for the purpose. Dr. Charlier had attended her
all the 20 years, and the first sign of dawning conscious-
ness was in February, when her medical attendant had
to open an abscess, and she started involuntarily. The
day before her death, after a violent twitching of the
limbs, she momentarily opened her eyes, flinched when
the doctor pinched her, and subsequently asked after
her grandfather who had been dead many years. She
did not recognise her mother, and thought her cousin
was her sister. The effort to speak and rouse herself
seemed more than the enfeebled frame could bear, and
she ceased to breathe at nine o'clock in the morning.
A LONG SLEEP FROM FRIGHT.
Science Sif tings, June 20, 1903, says: — Marie Daskalaki,
a pretty girl of seventeen, is the object of a popular
subscription of money to take her to Paris from Athens
in the hope of getting her awakened from a sleep that
has lasted for months. The history of the case is unique.
The girl suffered from a chest affection, and being
absolutely destitute, was given a bed in the hospital,
where, when near recovery, she was so frightened by
seeing a woman dying in the next bed that she lost
consciousness and has now been sleeping for five months
and a half. She has since been removed to her parents*
house, and awakes every five or six days, but falls to
sleep again almost immediately. She scarcely eats
anything, sleeps with her eyes open, and appears not to
hear anything. She is, however, very sensible in her
waking moments, but at the slightest sound falls back
unconscious.
54 TRANCE.
FURTHER TESTIMONIES.
The Chief Constable of Hereford, in a letter to Miss
Lechmere, 8 December, 1902, mentions a case of a
girl named Sarah Ann Dobbins, aged 1 1 years, of 27
Blue School Street, Hereford, who died on the I2th of
August, 1879, after being in a state of trance for three
weeks. The body was arranged after the manner of all
corpses, and the door of the room locked for the night.
In the morning the child wore precisely the same appear-
ance of death; two young ladies, a Miss Cook and a Miss
Bethel, called about ten o'clock to see the body, and it
was then discovered that it had moved. Dr. Smith was
called in, and the girl recovered. Fourteen years later,
when she was 25 years old, she committed suicide by
drowning herself in the river Wye.
The following case appeared in the Middlesborough
Daily Gazette, February 9, 1896, and in a number of
English papers :—
" The young Dutch maiden, Maria Cvetskens, who now lies
asleep at Stevensworth, has beaten the record in the annals of
somnolence. At the beginning of last month she had been asleep
for nearly three hundred days. The doctors, who visit her in great
numbers, are agreed that there is no deception in the case. Her
parents are of excellent repute, and it has never occurred to them
to make any financial profit out of the abnormal state of their
daughter. As to the cause of the prolonged sleep, the doctors
differ."
Page after page might be filled with similar instances
of these strange death counterfeits, which have led not
only to the horrible condition of being laid out for
interment, but in not a few well authenticated instances,
to premature burial. Alas, only a limited number of the
FURTHER TESTIMONIES. 55
latter instances are known, but those which have come
to light by the disturbances of old graveyards, and
judicial enquiries, afford sufficient ground for the sugges-
tion that many ugly secrets are locked up underground.
We can but select a few cases out of the wealth of
material at our disposal, and just those which appear
to be trustworthy.
FATAL MISTAKES.
Cases like the following which appeared in the London
Echo, of January 29, 1901, are sufficient to arouse alarm
in any sensitive nature. This journal reports that "some
workmen, opening a vault at Ghent yesterday, were
horrified to discover the body of a young girl lying
across the steps leading down into the vault. She was
quite dead, and had evidently been buried in a trance."
A correspondent in Spare Moments recalls the pre-
mature burial in April, 1895, of Ovidio Rossi, Italian
Consul at Constantinople, whose body was afterwards
found turned over face downwards, with legs twisted
and hands contracted, and fists full of hair (see Figaro
and Petit Journal, April 30, 1895); also the fortunate
prevention of it at the last moment, in the recent case in
Varna, where the wife of the wealthy Russian merchant
Ulyanon, had been medically certified, and was on the
point of being disposed of, as dead, but who at the date
of the last report, three weeks after the day fixed for
the burial, had not shown the slightest sign of decom-
position.
The Hereford Times of November 16, 1901, reprints
the following case from Pauillac. A Madame Bobin
arrived there on board the steamer " La Plata," from
56 TRANCE.
Senegal. She was supposed to be suffering from yellow
fever, and was transferred to the Lazaret by order of the
officer of health. There she became worse, and appar-
ently died. The body became rigid, and the face ashen
and corpse-like, and in that condition she was buried.
The nurse, however, had noticed that the body was not
cold, and that there was tremulousness of the muscles of
the abdomen, and expressed the opinion that Madame
Bobin was prematurely buried. On this being reported
to Madame Bobin's father, he had the body exhumed,
when it was found that a child had been born in the
coffin. The autopsy showed also that Madame Bobin
had not contracted yellow fever, and had died from
asphyxiation in the coffin. A suit was begun against
the health officers and the prefect, which resulted in a
verdict for £8,000 damages against them.
CHAPTER II.
CATALEPSY.
CATALEPSY differs in some of its characteristics from
trance, but the one is often mistaken for the other. It
is not so much a disease as a symptom of certain
nervous disorders, to which women and children are
more particularly liable. Catalepsy can be produced
artificially by hypnotism. Like trance, it has often
been mistaken for death, and its subjects buried alive.
In the religious epidemics of the Anabaptists in 1686,
and of the Calvinists of St. Medard in 1/31, catalepsy
appears to have been a contagious disorder induced by
involuntary imitation.
A REMINISCENCE BY THE EDITOR.
I had a striking case in my own practice in 1895. I
was sent for in the early hours of the morning to see a
young girl of seventeen, who had spent practically the
whole of the previous day in Wells Cathedral listening
to the music and singing in some special services,
driving afterwards some fifteen miles across country to
the Somersetshire village where she lived. On arrival
at the house I was informed by the weeping relatives
that I was too late ; she was dead. The poor girl had
fallen in a swoon, whilst sitting in a chair, soon after
arrival home, and though every effort had been made to
rouse her they all proved ineffectual ; even then I heard
her distracted friends shouting her name in her ears
without effect.
5
58 CATALEPSY.
I found the patient lying with closed eyes, pale and
corpse-like, upon the bed ; breathing was practically
imperceptible ; and the pulse, scarcely distinguishable,
was nevertheless small and rapid. I had lifted the wrist
from the bed in order to examine the pulse, and was
struck by the fact that upon releasing it the forearm
remained suspended and continued in a state of
suspension for some considerable time. I then put other
limbs in various positions, placed the body in absurd
postures, when, to the amazement of the onlookers, such
positions were maintained, and apparently would have
been maintained indefinitely had I not restored the
decubitus. She remained in this condition six days ; her
friends, one and all, failed in their efforts to arouse her,
or to gain any response to their calls. Urine and faeces
passed involuntarily. She lived four miles from my
residence, and therefore I could only see her morning
and evening ; and a strange fact was that although her
relatives could make no impression upon her senses, I
could, by speaking to her in a commanding voice, get
her to swallow milk from a feeding cup. The cataleptic
condition continued throughout ; the arms and legs
would remain in the most tiring positions in which I
could place them for far longer periods than they could
possibly have been sustained in health.
At the close of the sixth day profuse menstruation
supervened, and I noticed slight signs of consciousness.
I told her to sit up, and she did so, and opened her eyes
vacantly. I left the room for her friends to dress her,
and on returning later I conversed with her, and found
her quite oblivious of all that had taken place, but she
spoke freely of the music and singing, that is, up to the
A REMINISCENCE BY THE EDITOR. 59
point where consciousness had been interrupted. At no
time subsequently had she any recollection of these six
days which formed a period of such intense anxiety to
her friends. I had not at that time become interested
in the subject of premature burial, but many in the
district, who had been excited by the sensational event,
remarked that under other circumstances the result
might have been of a more serious character. I could
not but agree with their conclusions.
THE NATURE OF CATALEPSY.
Dr. Franz Hartmann differentiates between trance
and catalepsy, as follows : — " There seems hardly any
limit to the time during which a person may remain in
a trance ; but catalepsy is due to some obstruction in
the organic mechanism of the body, on account of its ex-
hausted nervous power. In the latter case the activity of
life begins again as soon as the impediment is removed,
or the nervous energy has recuperated its strength."
Dr. Gowers, in Quain's " Dictionary of Medicine," ed.
1894, vol. i., pp. 284-5, describes catalepsy as affecting
both sexes, at all ages from six to sixty. It is
a nervous affection, commonly associated with distinct
evidence of hysteria, but said sometimes to occur as an
early symptom of epilepsy. It is attended commonly
with loss of consciousness. The limbs remain in the
position they occupied at the onset, as if petrified. The
whole or part of the muscles pass into a state of rigidity.
In profound conditions sensibility is lost to touch, pain,
and electricity ; and no reflex movements can be induced
even by touching the conjunctiva, a state of mental
trance being associated.
60 CATALEPSY.
" Cassell's Family Physician " (by Physicians and Sur-
geons of the principal London Hospitals) describes this
singular affection, as follows : — " Catalepsy is one of the
strangest diseases possible. It is of rare occurrence, and
some very sceptical people have even gone so far as to
deny its existence. That is all nonsense, for catalepsy
is just as much a reality as gout or bronchitis. A fit
of catalepsy — for it is a paroxysmal disease — consists
essentially in the sudden suspension of thought, feeling,
and the power of moving.
" Cataleptic fits vary very much, not only in their
frequency, but in their duration. Sometimes they are
very short indeed, lasting only a few minutes. In one
case, that of a lady, they would sometimes come on when
she was reading aloud. She would stop suddenly in the
middle of a sentence, and a peculiar stiffness of the
whole body would seize her, fixing the limbs immovably
for several minutes. Then it would pass off, and the
reading would be continued at the very word at which it
had been interrupted, the patient being quite unconscious
that anything had happened. But sometimes fits such
as these may last for days and days together, and it
seems not improbable that people may have been buried
in this state in mistake for death."
STATEMENT BY DR. FORBES WINSLOW.
In a communication received from the eminent
specialist, Dr. Forbes Winslow, in September, 1903,
relative to this important subject, he says : —
" All the appearances of death may be so strikingly
displayed in a person in a cataleptic condition that it is
quite possible for burial to take place while life is not
STATEMENT BY DR. FORBES WINSLOW. 6l
extinct Cases of persons being buried alive occur in
England much more frequently, I dare say, than is
generally supposed. I do not consider that the ordinary
tests employed to ascertain that life is extinct are
sufficient ; / maintain that the only satisfactory proof of
death is putrefaction.
" Trance-sleep is a morbid form of sleep, and has
often been mistaken for death. In trance-sleep there
appears to be the same suspension of all animal and
organic functions which takes place in hybernation,
but the hemispherical ganglia continue in active oper-
ation. When the torpid state partially extends to the
motor system, the cataleptic condition is induced ;
that is to say, the muscles contract automatically upon
any slight impression being made upon them.
" All cases of apparent death present the persistence
of pulsations of the heart, a character which distinguishes
them from real death ; this refers especially to those
due to asphyxia and syncope.
"The immediate and certain signs of death are
prolonged absence of cardiac pulsation, the simultaneous
relaxation of the sphincters, owing to the paralysis of
the muscles, and finally the sinking of the globe of
the eye and loss of transparency in the cornea. Only
the first of these taken by itself is a trustworthy test,
but even with this we can be deceived ; the certain
signs being cadaveric rigidity, absence of muscular
contraction under galvanic stimulation, and the last, but
certain test, as I have previously stated, putrefaction.
" I consider the law should be made more stringent,
as to certifying deaths. To be absolutely satisfactory,
no certificate should be signed until after proper
62 CATALEPSY.
examination of the body, and, indeed, as I have said,
until there are signs of putrefaction. I always refuse,
myself, to sign a certificate before careful examination,
although I have often been asked to do so.
" A case which illustrates the danger of premature
burials occurred in my own personal experience not
long ago. I was called upon to attend an elderly lady,
and on arriving at the house was told she was dead.
There was another doctor present, and he also informed
me that she was dead, and to all appearances that was so.
There was no pulse, no perceptible heart's action, and
all the appearances of death were there. I was not
satisfied, however, and tried bleeding. The result was
that the lady's blood began to circulate, and she
recovered consciousness. She had been in a state of
catalepsy ; but had that case occurred in a hospital, in
all probability a screen would have been drawn round
the body, and the matter considered as settled. It is
mainh- the liability of these conditions - occurring,
accompanied by all the appearances of death, which
makes the subject of premature burial so important."
MEDICAL EXPERIENCES.
The following case, contributed by Dr. Gooch, will
further illustrate this malady :—
"A lady, who laboured habitually under melancholy, a few days
after parturition was seized with catalepsy, and presented the
following appearances : — She was lying in bed motionless and
apparently senseless. It was thought the pupils of her eyes were
dilated, and some apprehensions were entertained of effusion on
the brain ; but on examining them closely it was found they
readily contracted when the light fell upon them. The only signs
MEDICAL EXPERIENCES. 63
of life were warmth, and a pulse which was one hundred and
twenty, and weak. In attempting to rouse her from this senseless
state, the trunk of the body was lifted up and placed so far back as
to form an obtuse angle with the lower extremities, and in this
posture, with nothing to support her, she continued sitting for
many minutes. One arm was now raised, and then the other, and
in the posture they were placed they remained. It was a curious
sight to see her sitting up staring lifelessly, her arms outstretched,
yet without any visible signs of animation. She was very thin
and pallid, and .looked like a corpse that had been propped up and
stiffened in that attitude. She was now taken out of bed and
placed upright, and attempts were made to rouse her by calling
loudly in her ears, but in vain ; she stood up, indeed, but as
inanimate as a statue. The slightest push put her off her balance,
and she made no exertion to retain it, and would have fallen had
she not been caught. She went into this state three times ; the
first lasted fourteen hours, the second twelve hours, and the third
nine hours, with waking intervals of three days after the first fit,
and of one day after the second ; after this time the disease
assumed the ordinary form of melancholia. — The Science and
Practice of Medicine, by Sir W. Aitken,p. 357.
Dr. John Jebb, F.R.S., cited in Reynold's " System of
Medicine," vol. ii., pp. 99-102, has recorded the following
graphic case :—
" In the latter end of last year (viz., 1781), I was desired to visit
a young lady who, for nine months, had been afflicted with that
singular disorder termed a catalepsy. Although she was prepared
for my visit, she was seized with the disorder as soon as my arrival
was announced. She was employed in netting, and was passing
the needle through the mesh, in which position she immediately
became rigid, exhibiting, in a very pleasing form, a figure of death-
like sleep, beyond the power of art to imitate or the imagination
to conceive. Her forehead was serene, her features perfectly
composed. The paleness of her colour, her breathing at a distance
being also scarcely perceptible, operated in rendering the similitude
to marble more exact and striking. The positions of her fingers,
64 CATALEPSY.
hands, and arms were altered with difficulty, but they preserved
every form of flexure they acquired ; nor were the muscles of the
neck exempted from this law, her head maintaining every situation
in which the hand could place it as firmly as her limbs," etc.
Dr. King Chambers, after citing the above case in
full, continues : —
"The most common exciting cause of catalepsy seems to be
strong mental emotion. When Covent Garden Theatre was last
burnt down, the blaze flashed in at the uncurtained windows of
St. Mary's Hospital. One of my patients, a girl of twenty
recovering from low fever, was woke up by it and exclaimed that
the day of judgment was come. She remained in an excited
state all night, and the next morning grew gradually stiff, like a
corpse, whispering (before she became quite insensible) that she
was dead. If her arm was raised, it remained extended in the
position in which it was placed for several minutes, and then
slowly subsided. The inelastic kind of way in which it retained
its position for a time, and then gradually yielded to the force of
gravity, reminded one more of a wax figure than of the marble
to which Dr. Jebb compares it. A strange effect was produced
by opening the eye-lid of one eye ; the other eye remained closed,
and the raised lid after a time fell very slowly like the arm. A
better superficial representation of death it is difficult to conceive.
. . In both these cases I convinced myself carefully that there
was no deception.
" Other cases are of much longer duration. . . . The death-
like state may last for days. It may be mistaken for real death,
and treated as such.
<k Any cases of apparent death that did occur (in former days)
were burnt, or buried, or otherwise put out of the way, and
were never more heard of. But after the establishment of
Christianity, tenderness, sometimes excessive, for the remains of
departed friends took the place of the hard, heathen selfishness.
The dead were kept closer to the congregations of the living
as if to represent in material form the dogma of the Communion
of Saints. This led to the discovery that some persons, indeed
MEDICAL EXPERIENCES. 65
some persons of note (amongst others, Duns Scotus the theologian,
at Cologne), had got out of their coffins and died in a vain
attempt to open the doors of their vaults."
OTHER REMARKABLE CASES.
Dr. Chambers relates several other remarkable cases.
Here is one : —
" I alighted accidently on another case, communicated to the
same scientific body (Acad. Royale des Sciences), by M. Imbert
in 1713. It is that of the driver of the Rouen diligence, aged
forty-five, who fell into a kind of soporific catalepsy on hearing
of the sudden death of a man he had quarrelled with. It appears
that ' M Burette, under whose care he was at La Charite, made
use of the most powerful assistance of art — bleeding in the arms,
the foot, the neck, emetics, purgatives, blisters, leeches,' etc. At
last somebody 'threw him naked into cold water to surprise him.'
The effect surprised the doctors as much as the patient. It is
related with evident wonder how 'he opened his eyes, looked
steadfastly, but did not speak.' His wife seems to have been a
prudent woman, for a week afterwards she ' carried him home,
where he is at present ; they gave him no medicine ; he speaks
sensibly enough, and mends every day.' "
The Lancet, 1870, vol. i., p. 1044, in its Paris corre-
spondence says : —
"The following curious case is related as having occurred at
Dunkirk, on April 14, and as 'showing the utility of catalepsy.'
A young girl of seventeen years was seized with a violent attack of
epilepsy, and fell, on the above date, into a canal. A boatman
immediately jumped into the water to save her, and brought her to
the shore after twenty minutes. The most singular circumstance
connected with the accident is that, when the young girl was taken
out of the water, she presented all the symptoms of catalepsy.
Notwithstanding this long immersion, she was resuscitated, and
nothing afterwards transpired to cause any anxiety."
66 CATALEPSY.
Mr. James Braid, M.R.C.S., in the Medical Times,
1850, vol. xxi., p. 402, narrates a case of a cataleptic
woman in the Manchester Royal Infirmary under the
care of Dr. John Mitchell, and writes : —
" Every variety of contrivance and torture was resorted to by
various parties who saw her, for the purpose of testing the degree
of her insensibility, and for determining whether she might not
be an impostor, but without eliciting the slightest indication of
activity of any of the senses ; . . . Nevertheless she heard and
understood all that was said and proposed to be done, and suffered
the most exquisite torture from various tests applied to her / /
A fact so important as this ought to be published in every journal
throughout the civilised world, so that in future professional men
might be thereby led to exercise greater discretion and mercy in
their modes of applying tests to such patients."
PECULIAR CASE NEAR WEVMOUTH.
The Somerset County Herald (Taunton) of October 12,
1895, has the following :—
"The wedding nuptials of a sailor from H.M.S. Alexandra and
a young woman residing in Broadway, who were recently married,
have been interrupted in a most unusual manner by the newly-
made bride falling into a trance. On the day following the
wedding Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer, for such is the name of the
newly-espoused pair, went for a drive, and on returning in the
evening the bride, remarking that she did not feel very well, went
upstairs, and before long was in a sound sleep, which continued
throughout the night and far into the following day. The relatives
of the bride, remembering symptoms which she had previously
developed, then sent for Dr. Pridham, who at once pronounced
that the unfortunate young woman had fallen into a trance. Dr.
Colmer, of Weymouth, was likewise called ; but nothing that these
two medical gentlemen could do had the slightest effect in arous-
ing their patient from the state of lethargy into which she had so
PECULIAR CASE NEAR WEYMOUTH. 6/
suddenly and unexpectedly relapsed. In this condition she re-
mained for a space of five days, when she gradually showed signs
of returning animation, and in the course of a few hours regained
consciousness, though she was then in a very exhausted condition.
After her wakening the young woman developed inflammation of
the legs, which was regarded as a very serious condition for her to
he in. In an interview on Saturday, Dr. Pridham described the
trance as being exceedingly death-like in character, and added
that, in such trances as the one in question, in the past people
have no doubt been actually buried."
A less experienced practitioner would probably have
made out a death-certificate, as in numerous similar
cases. After burial we hear no more of them ; they
may have been buried in a death -like trance, but the
medical certificate, no matter how inconsiderately given,
consigns them to perpetual silence beyond appeal or
escape. Family remonstrance is then unavailing, for,
except in cases of strong suspicion of poisoning, no
Home Secretary or Coroner would grant an order for
exhumation.
The existence of trance, catalepsy, and other death
counterfeits followed by hasty burial, has been alluded
to by reputable writers from time immemorial ; and
while the veracity of these writers has remained un-
challenged, and their narratives are confirmed by hun-
dreds of cases of modern experience, the effect on the
public mind has been only of a transitory character,
and nothing has been done either in England or
America to safeguard the people from such dreadful
mistakes.
CHAPTER III.
ANIMAL AND SO-CALLED HUMAN
HIBERNATION.
CURIOUS CASE OF TORPIDITY.
THE following case of the jerboa, or jumping mouse,
recorded by Major-General Thomas Davies, F.R.S.,
in the " Transactions of the Linnsean Society," L will
show how far a torpid mammal may be removed
from the opportunity of breathing, and how imper-
ceptibly, to the eyes of an observer, its torpid life passed
into actual death :—
" With respect to the figure given of it in its dormant
state (plate viii., fig. 6), I have to observe that the
specimen was found by some workmen in digging the
foundation for a summer-house in a gentleman's garden,
about two miles from Quebec, in the latter end of May,
1787. It was discovered enclosed in a ball of clay,
about the size of a cricket ball, nearly an inch in thick-
ness, perfectly smooth within, and about twenty inches
under ground. The man who first discovered it, not
knowing what it was, struck the ball with his spade, by
which means it was broken to pieces, or the ball also
would have been presented to me. The drawing will
perfectly show how the animal is laid during its dor-
mant state [a tawny mouse, with long hind legs and
j'ong tail, coiled up into a perfect ovoid, of which the two
'poles are the crown of the head and the rump.] How
1 " Linnrean Transactions," 1797, vol. iv., p. 155. "An Account of
the Jumping Mouse of Canada — Dipits Catiadensis"
CURIOUS CASE OF TORPIDITY. 69
long it had been underground it is impossible to say;
but as I never could observe these animals in any parts
of the country after the beginning of September, I con-
ceive that they lay themselves up some time in that
month, or in the beginning of October, when the frost
becomes sharp ; nor did I ever see them again before the
last week of May, or beginning of June. From their
being enveloped in balls of clay, without any appearance
of food, I conceive they sleep during the winter, and re-
main for that time without sustenance. As soon as I
conveyed this specimen to my house, I deposited it, as
it was, in a small chip box, in some cotton, waiting with
great anxiety for its waking ; but that not taking place
at the season they generally appear, I kept it until I
found it began to smell ; I then stuffed it, and preserved
it in its torpid position. I am led to believe its not
recovering from that state arose from the heat of my
room during the time it was in the box, a fire having
been constantly burning in the stove, and which in all
probability was too great for respiration. . . ."
REMARKABLE CASES OF REVIVAL.
In his work " On Trance and Human Hibernation,1'
p. 47, Braid, after citing facts as to higher animals,
says : — " There are other creatures which have not the
power of migrating from climes too intensely hot for the
normal exercise of their physical functions, and the lives
of these animals are preserved through a state of torpor
superinduced by the want of sufficient moisture, their
bodies being dried up from excessive heat. This is the
case with snails, which are said to have been revived by
a little cold water being thrown on them, after having
70 HIBERNATION.
remained in a dry and torpid state for fifteen years.
The vibrio tritici has also been restored, after perfect
torpidity and apparent death for five years and eight
months, by merely soaking it in water. Some small
microscopic animals have been apparently killed and
revived again a dozen times by drying and then apply-
ing moisture to them. This is remarkably verified in
the case of the wheel-animalcule. And Spallanzani
states that some animalcules have been recovered by
moisture after a torpor of twenty-seven years. Accord-
ing to Humboldt, again, some large animals are thrown
into a similar state from want of moisture. Such he
states to be the case with the alligator and boa-con-
strictor during the dry season in the plains of Venezuela,
and with other animals elsewhere." — " On Trance and
Human Hibernation," p. 47.
Dr. Moore Russell Fletcher, in his treatise on {i Sus-
pended Animation," pp. 7, 8, observes : — " Snakes and
toads live for a long time without air or food. The
following experiment was made by a Mr. Tower, of
Gardiner (Maine). An adder, upwards of two feet in
length, was got into a glass jar, which was tightly
sealed. He was kept there for sixteen months without
any apparent change, and when let out, looked as well
as when put in, and crawled away.
" The common pond trout, when thrown into snow,
will soon freeze, remain so for days, and when put into
cold water to remove the frost becomes as lively as ever.
"When residing in New Brunswick, in 1842, we went
to a lake to secure some trout, which were frozen in the
snow and kept for use. While there we saw men with
long wooden tongs catching frost fish from the salt
REMARKABLE CASES OF REVIVAL. /I
water at the entrance of a brook. The fish were thrown
upon the ice in great quantities. We had a barrel of
them put up with snow and kept frozen, and in a cool
place. For six or seven weeks they were taken out and
used as wanted, and might be kept frozen for an in-
definite time, and be alive when thawed in cold water.
The two pieces of a fish, cut in two when frozen, would
move and try to swim when thawed in cold water."
HIBERNATION OF THE BEAR.
The bear resembles man in being omnivorous and
surprisingly intelligent. He often walks on his hind
paws, and uses his fore paws as he would arms, with
surprising dexterity. His winter quarters, in which he
hibernates, are very remarkable.
When the cold weather arrives he digs a hole in the
ground, and tries to pile up as many leaves as he can
around and upon his body. The snow begins to fall,
until a layer which often, in Russia, reaches to more than
six feet high is formed. It is a real burial. There are no
exterior signs of the animal, so that when the inhabitants
are preparing the winter hunts they have to mark the
trees of the forest so as to know where he is lying.
The changes of temperature, thaws, and frosts, with
new snow continually added, ultimately form a coat of
ice less permeable than many sandy soils, beneath which
the animal lives in a lethargic state for three or four
months.
WHEN is A MAN DEAD?
Dr. Brouardel has spent years in a special study of
this subject, and has embodied his findings in a remark-
able book called " Death and Sudden Death," published
72 HIBERNATION.
by William Wood & Co., of New York. He says that
practically all the signs of life may have disappeared,
and the patient may still be resuscitated.
In studying this subject, Dr. Brouardel went first by
the lower animals, and there he found many strange
cases of apparent death which was not death. From
this basis he extended his investigations. Here are
some of Dr. Brouardel's findings : —
" In hibernating animals the functions of respiration
and circulation are reduced to the minimum during
their winter sleep. Submit them while in this state to a
reduction of temperature of 9° to 18° Fahr., and the vital
phenomena, already nearly imperceptible, are absolutely
arrested ; so that if you were to cut one of the animal's
paws, you would have a little oozing of blood, but not a
stream. Tap the heart with the end of your scalpel, and
you will not induce a contraction, and it will be equally
impossible to arouse muscular contractibility.
" Take these animals now ; warm them gradually for
an hour up to a temperature of 18° Fahr., and they will
resume their vital functions. They were, therefore, in a
state of apparent death. Is there not room for reflection
when we see how closely these phenomena apply to the
case of human beings ? "
SO-CALLED HUMAN HIBERNATION.
Dr. George Moore observes that " A state of the body
is certainly sometimes produced (in man) which is nearly
analogous to the torpor of the lower animals — a condition
utterly inexplicable by any principle taught in the schools.
Who, for instance, can inform us how it happens that
certain fishes may be suddenly frozen in the Polar Sea,
SO-CALLED HUMAN HIBERNATION. 73
and so remain during the long winter, and yet be re-
quickened into full activity by returning summer."-
"Use of the Body in Relation to the Mind," p. 31.
Hufeland, in his " Uncertainty of Death," 1824, p. 12,
observes that it is easier for man to fall into a
state of trance than the lower creatures, on account of
his complicated anatomy. It is a transitory state
between life and death, into which anyone may pass and
return from. Trance was common among the Greeks
and Romans, who, just before cremation, had the custom
of cutting off a finger-joint, most probably to discover
if there was any trace of life. Death does not come
suddenly ; it is a gradual process from actual life into
apparent death, and from that to actual death. It is a
mistake to take outward appearances for inner death.
A remarkable case, resting upon good authority,
illustrative of the maintenance of life under a partial
suspension of the action of the heart and lungs, is
recorded by Cheyne. It is that of Colonel Townshend,
who appears to have possessed the .power of voluntarily
dying — i.e., of so suspending the heart's action that no
pulsation could be felt. The longest period in which he
remained in this inanimate state was about half-an-
hour, when active life became slowly re-established with-
out any volition or consciousness on his part. No doubt
respiration and circulation were feebly continued at
intervals in this exceptional case, although so slightly
as to be imperceptible to the examiners, or to be indi-
cated by pulsation of the radial artery, or by the hand
placed over the region of the heart. The stethoscope had
not then been invented, and the method of detecting heart
sounds by auscultation was unknown ; there are cases,
6
74 HIBERNATION.
however, on record, where even the stethoscope in
suspended animation has failed to elicit evidence of
movement. In a hibernating animal, though apparently
dead, circulation and respiration are, of course, still
maintained, but are reduced to a minimum. For
instance, Boncleut found, in his experiments on the
marmot or mountain rat, that the pulsations of the heart,
which were 90 when the animal was in an active state,
were reduced to 8 or 10 in a minute when it was in the
torpid state. When Colonel Townshend died (he really
died nine hours after one of these experiments), nothing
could be detected post-mortem to account for the extra-
ordinary power which he possessed over the action of
the heart.
SELF-INDUCED TRANCE.
Mr. Chunder Sen, municipal secretary to the Maha-
rajah of Jeypore, introduced the author, during his visit
to India, March 8, 1896, to a venerable and learned
fakir, who was seated on a couch Buddhist fashion, the
feet turned towards the stomach, in the attitude of
meditation, in a small but comfortable house near the
entrance to the beautiful public gardens of that city.
The fakir possesses the power of self-induced trance,
which really amounts to a suspension of -life, being
undistinguishable from death. In the month of Decem-
ber, 1895, he passed into and remained in this condition
for twenty days. On several occasions the experiment
has been conducted under test conditions. In 1889,
Dr. Hem Chunder Sen, of Delhi, and his brother, Mr.
Chunder Sen, had the opportunity of examining the
fakir while passing into a state of hibernation, and found
that the pulse beat slower and slower until it ceased to
SELF-INDUCED TRANCE. 75
beat at all. The stethoscope was applied to the heart
by the doctor, who failed to detect the slightest motion.
The fakir, covered with a white shroud, was placed in a
small subterraneous cell built of masonry, measuring
about six feet by six feet, of rotund structure. The door
was closed and locked, and the lock sealed with Dr.
Sen's private seal and with that of Mr. Dhanna Tal, the
magistrate of the city ; the flap door leading to the vault
was also carefully fastened. At the expiration of thirty-
three days the cell was opened, and the fakir was found
just where he was placed, but with a death-like appear-
ance, the limbs having become stiff as in rigor mortis.
He was brought from the vault, and the mouth was
rubbed with honey and milk, and the body and joints
massaged with oil. In the evening manifestations of
life were exhibited, and the fakir was fed with a spoonful
of milk. The next day he was given a little juice of
pulses known as dal, and in three days he was able to
eat bread and milk, his normal diet. These cases are
well known both at Delhi and at Jeypore, and the facts
have never been disputed. The fakir is a Sanscrit
scholar, and is said to be endowed with much wisdom,
and is consulted by those who are interested in Hindu
learning and religion. He has never received money
from visitors, and the mention of it distresses him.
STRANGE FAKIR FEATS.
The Medical Times of May n, 1850, contains a com-
munication from Mr. Braid, who says he has " lost no
opportunity of accumulating evidence on this subject,
and that while many alleged feats of this kind are
probably of a deceptive character, still there are others
/6 HIBERNATION.
which admit of no such explanation ; and that it be-
comes the duty of scientific men fairly to admit the
difficulty." He then refers to two documents by eye-
witnesses of these feats, and which, he says, " with the
previous evidence on the subject, must set the point at
rest for ever as to the fact of the feats referred to being-
genuine phenomena, deception being impossible." In
one of these instances, the fakir was buried in the
ground for six weeks, and was, consequently, deprived
not only of food and drink, but also of light and air ;
when he was disinterred, his legs and arms were shriv-
elled and stiff, but his face was full ; no pulse could
be discovered in the heart, temples, or arms. " About
three years since I spent some time with a General
C , a highly respectable and intelligent man, who
had been a long time in the Indian service, and who
was himself an eye-witness of one of these feats. A
fakir was buried several feet in the earth, under vigilant
inspection, and a watch was set, so that no one could
communicate with him ; and to make the matter doubly
sure, corn was sown upon the grave, and during the
time the man was buried it vegetated and grew to the
height of several inches. He lay there forty-two days.
The gentleman referred to passed the place many times
during his burial, saw the growing corn, was also present
at his disinterment, and when he questioned the man,
and intimated to him that he thought deception had
been practised, the fakir offered, for a sum of money, to
be buried again, for the same length of time, by the
General himself, and in his own garden. This challenge,
of course, closed the argument."
Cases of this kind might be multiplied on evidence
STRANGE FAKIR FEATS. 77
which cannot be doubted, and, in Mr. Braid's book,
entitled " Human Hibernation," there are cases fully
stated. Sir Claude Wade, who was an eye-witness of
these feats when acting as political agent at the Court
of Runjeet Singh, at Lahore, and from whom Mr. Braid
derived his information, makes the following observa-
tions : — " I share entirely in the apparent incredibility
of the fact of a man being buried alive and surviving
the trial for various periods of duration ; but however
incompatible with our knowledge of physiology in the
absence of any visible proof to the contrary, I am bound
to declare my belief in the facts which I have repre-
sented, however impossible their existence may appear
to others." Upon this Mr. Braid observes : — " Such then
is the narrative of Sir C. M. Wade, and when we con-
sider the high character of the author as a gentleman of
honour, talents, and attainments of the highest order,
and the searching, painstaking efforts displayed by him
throughout the whole investigation, and his close prox-
imity to the body of the fakir, and opportunity of
observing minutely every point for himself, as well as
the facilities, by his personal intercourse with Runjeet
Singh and the whole of his Court, of gaining the most
accurate information on every point, I conceive it is
impossible to have had a more valuable or conclusive
document for determining the fact that no collusion or
deception existed."
BURIED ALIVE AT THE ROYAL AQUARIUM.
A case of this kind was exhibited at the Westminster
Aquarium in the autumn of 1895, which was carefully
watched and tested by medical experts, without
/S HIBERNATION.
detecting any appearance of fraud or simulation. The
hypnotised man, Walter Johnson, an ex-soldier, twenty-
nine years of age, was in a trance which lasted thirty
days, during which time he was absolutely unconscious,
as shown by the various experiments to which he was
subjected.
A case of induced trance and experimental burial, not
unlike that of the Indian fakirs referred to, was reported
in the London Daily Chronicle, March 14, 1896. The
experiment was carried out under test conditions.
" After being entombed for six days in a hypnotic trance, Alfred
Wootton was dug up and awakened at the Royal Aquarium
(Westminster), on Saturday night in the presence of a crowd of
interested spectators. Wootton was hypnotised on Monday by
Professor Fricker, and consigned to his voluntary grave, nine feet
deep, in view of the audience, who sealed the stout casket or coffin
in which the subject was immured. Seven or eight feet of earth
were then shovelled upon the body, a shaft being left open for the
necessary respiration, and in order that the public might be
able to see the man's face during the week. The experiment
was a novel one in this country, and was intended to illustrate
the extraordinary effect produced by the Indian fakirs, and to
demonstrate the connection between hypnotism and psychology,
while also showing the value of the former art as a curative agent.
W7ootton is a man thirty-eight years of age ; he is a lead-workerr
and on Monday weighed lost. 2^1bs. He had previously been in a
trance for a week in Glasgow, under Professor Pricker's experi-
enced hands, so was not altogether new to the business ; but he is
the first to be 'buried alive' by way of amusement. To the un-
initiated the whole thing was gruesome in the extreme, and this
particular form of entertainment certainly cannot be commended.
Before being covered in, Wootton's nose and ears were stopped
with wax, which was removed before he was revived on Saturday.
The theory of the burial is to secure an equable temperature day
and night— which is impossible when the subject is above ground
BURIED ALIVE AT THE ROYAL AQUARIUM. 79
in the ordinary way — and therefore to induce a deeper trance. Of
course, too, the patient was out of reach of the operator, and no
suspicion of continuous hypnotising could rest upon the professor.
No nourishment could be supplied for the same reason, though
the man's lips were occasionally moistened by means of a damp
sponge on the end of a rod, and no record of temperature or
respiration could be kept. A good many people witnessed the
digging up process, and the awakening took place in the concert
room, whither the casket and its burden were conveyed. The
professor was not long in arousing his subject, after electric and
other tests had been applied to convince the audience that the
man was perfectly insensible to pain and everything else. Indeed,
a large needle was run through the flesh on the back of the hand
without any effect whatever. The first thing on regaining con-
sciousness that Wootton said was that he could not see, and then
he asked for drink — milk, and subsequently a little brandy, being
supplied. As soon as possible the patient was lifted out of his box,
and with help was quickly able to walk about the platform. He
complained of considerable stiffness of the limbs, and was un-
doubtedly weak, but otherwise seemed none the worse for his
remarkable retirement from active life, and abstention from food
for nearly a week. He was swathed in flannel, and soon found the
heat of the room very oppressive, though at first he appeared to
be particularly anxious to have his overcoat and his boots. It
is anticipated that in a day or two at most Wootton will have
regained his usual vigorous health."
DR. HARTMANN'S EVIDENCE.
Dr. Hartmann in "Premature Burial," page 23, re-
lates an account of a similar experiment with a fakir,
differing from the above, however, in so far as it was
made by some English residents, who did not put the
coffin into the earth, but hung it up in the air, so as to
protect it from the danger of being eaten up by white
ants. There seems to be hardly any limitation in regard
to the time during which such a body may be preserved
So HIBERNATION.
and become reanimated again, provided that it is well
protected, although modern ignorance may smile at this
statement.
Those of our readers who wish to pursue this subject
will find ample material in " Observations on Trance and
Human Hibernation/' 1850, by James Braid, M.R.C.S. ;
Dr. Kuhn's report of his investigations of the Indian
fakirs to the Anthropological Society of Munich, in
1895 ; the researches of Dr. J. M. Honigberger, a
German physician long resident in India ; and in the
India Journal of Medical and Physical Science, 1836,
vol. i., p. 389, etc.
CHAPTER IV.
PREMATURE BURIAL.
How GRAVEYARDS TELL THEIR TALE.
AT the sitting of the Paris Academy of Medicine,
on April 10, 1827, a paper was read by M. Chantourelle
on the danger of hasty burial. This led to a discussion,
in which M. Desgenettes stated that he had been told
by Dr. Thouret, who presided at the destruction of
the vaults of Les Innocens, that many skeletons had
been found in positions seeming to show that they had
turned in their coffins. Dr. Thouret was so much im-
pressed by the circumstance that he had a special clause
inserted in his will relating to his own burial.
Similar revelations, according to Kempner, have fol-
lowed the examinations of graveyards in Holland, and
in New York and other parts of the United States.
The Casket, Rochester, New York, U.S., of March 2,
1896, gives a detailed narrative of recent discoveries
made by T. M. Montgomery in the removal of Fort
Randall Cemetery, with the condition of the bodies
found as to decay or state of preservation, and says : —
" We found among these remains two that bore every
evidence of having been buried alive. The first case
was that of a soldier that had been struck by lightning.
Upon opening the lid of the coffin we found that the
legs and arms had been drawn up as far as the confines of
the coffin would permit. The other was a case of death
resulting from alcoholism. The body was slightly
82 PREMATURE BURIAL.
turned, the legs were drawn up a trifle, and the hands
were clutching the clothing. In the coffin was found a
large whisky flask. Nearly two per cent, of those
exhumed here were, no doubt, victims of suspended
animation."
Professor Alexander Wilder, M.D., in a pamphlet
entitled " Burying Alive a Frequent Peril," mentions a
number of cases. Among them he cites the case of the
body of a boy, six years old, discovered during the
removal of remains from a village cemetery to a new
one at Philadelphia, in which the arms were bent over
the skull, one leg drawn up, and the other bent across it
in such a way as to show that the little fellow, twenty years
before, had been hurried to the grave whilst still alive.
Another case, of which he gives the name and address,
is that of a man of thirty-five, who was supposed to have
died from scarlet fever, and was buried forty-eight hours
after. The coffin having to be moved two months later,
consequent upon another interment, the glass front was
found to be shattered, the bottom kicked out, and the
sides sprung. The body lay face downwards, the arms
were bent, and in the clenched fists were handfuls of hair.
A VOICE FROM INDIA.
Dr. Chew says : — " Though a layman, still it would be
hard to find a more indefatigable sanitarian than my
late commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel R. C.
Sterndale, of the Presidency Volunteer Rifle Battalion,
and for many years vice-chairman of the municipality of
the suburbs of Calcutta. In order to prove his theory
that a great deal of danger existed in the rainy season
from subsoil water rising up into the graves, saturating
A VOICE FROM INDIA. 83
the bodies, and then poisoning the neighbouring tanks
and wells, he caused a trench, ten feet long, six deep,
and four wide, to be dug across an old Mohammedan
graveyard. Soundings and measurements having been
taken of the subsoil water, he had a tarpaulin stretched
over the trench, and daily measured the ' fall ' of the
water-level. He had a drawing made of the section of
that graveyard in which the action of the nitre-laden
water seemed to mummify some of the bodies. Amongst
the rest was a somewhat mummified male corpse which,
instead of being on his back, was lying on his abdomen ;
the left arm supported the chin, but had a piece of it
missing ; the right hand clutched the left elbow, and the
general position of the body was as if, consciousness
having returned, the alleged corpse sat up, found the
weight of the earth too heavy to work through, and then,
dying of suffocation, fell forward in the position in which
it was found and exposed."
Dr. Chew adds : — " I have heard and read of several
other instances, but as they have not come within my
personal observation, I do not mention or refer to them."
A GRAVESTONE AND ITS STORY.
On July 2, 1896, the author visited the grave of
Madam Blunden, in the Cemetery, Basingstoke, Hants,
who, according to the inscription (now obliterated), was
buried alive. The following narrative appears in " The
Uncertainty of the Signs of Death," by Surgeon M.
Cooper, London, 1746, pp. 78, 79 :—
" At Basingstoke, in Hampshire, not many years ago,
a gentlewoman of character and fortune was taken ill,
and, to all appearances, died, while her husband was on
84 PREMATURE BURIAL.
a journey to London. A messenger was forthwith
despatched to the gentleman, who returned immediately,
and ordered everything for her decent interment.
Accordingly, on the third day after her supposed
decease, she was buried in Holy Ghost Chapel, at the
outside of the town, in a vault belonging to the family,
over which there is a school for poor children, endowed
by a charitable gentleman in the reign of Edward VI.
It happened the next day that the boys, while they
were at play, heard a noise in the vault, and one of
them ran and told his master, who, not crediting what
he said, gave him a box on the ear and sent him about
his business ; but, upon the other boys coming with the
same story, his curiosity was awakened, so that he sent
immediately for the sexton, and opened the vault and
the lady's coffin, where they found her just expiring.
All possible means were used to recover her to life, but
to no purpose, for she, in her agony, had bit the nails
off her fingers, and tore her face and head to that
degree, that, notwithstanding all the care that was taken
of her, she died in a few hours in inexpressible torment."
NOISES FROM THE TOMB.
The Sunday Times, London, December 30, 1838,
contains the following : —
"A frightful case of premature interment occurred not long
since, at Tonneins, in the Lower Garonne. The victim, a man
in the prime of life, had only a few shovelfuls of earth thrown into
his grave, when an indistinct noise was heard to proceed from his
coffin. The grave-digger, terrified beyond description, instantly
fled to seek assistance, and some time elapsed before his return,
when the crowd, which had by this time collected in considerable
numbers round the grave, insisted on the coffin being opened. As
NOISES FROM THE TOMB. 85
soon as the first boards had been removed, it was ascertained,
beyond a doubt, that the occupant had been interred alive. His
countenance was frightfully contracted with the agony he had
undergone ; and, in his struggles, the unhappy man had forced his
arms completely out of the winding sheet, in which they had been
securely enveloped. A physician, who was on the spot, opened a
vein, but no blood flowed. The sufferer was beyond the reach
of art."
From the Times, July 7, 1867, p. 12, col. 3.
" The Journal de Pontarlier relates a case of premature inter-
ment. During the funeral, three days back, of a young woman at
Montflorin, who had apparently died in an epileptic fit, the grave-
digger, after having thrown a spadeful of earth on the coffin,
thought he heard a moaning from the tomb. The body was
consequently exhumed, and a vein having been opened, yielded
blood almost warm and liquid. Hopes were for a moment enter-
tained that the young woman would recover from her lethargy,
but she never did so entirely, and the next day life was found to
be extinct."
From the Lancet, October 19, 1867, p. 504.
"The Journal de Morlaix mentions that a young woman at
Bohaste, France, who was supposed to have died from cholera a
few days back, was buried on the following afternoon. The
sexton, when about to fill in the grave, fancied that he heard a
noise in the coffin, and sent for the medical officer, who, on re-
moving the lid and examining the body, gave it as his opinion
that the woman had been alive when buried."
The official journal of the French Senate, January 30.
1869, records that the attention of the Senate was called
to this case by means of a petition signed by seven
residents in Paris, and the facts are confirmed by L.
Roger, Officier de Sante.
86 PREMATURE BURIAL.
From the Daily Telegraph, January 18, 1889.
" A gendarme was buried alive the other day in a village near
Grenoble. The man had become intoxicated on potato brandy,
and fell into a profound sleep. After twenty hours passed in
slumber, his friends considered him to be dead, particularly as
his body assumed the usual rigidity of a corpse. When the
sexton, however, was lowering the remains of the ill-fated gen-
darme into the grave, he heard moans and knocks proceeding
from the interior of the 'four-boards.' He immediately bored
holes in the sides of the coffin, to let in air, and then knocked off
the lid. The gendarme had, however, ceased to live, having
horribly mutilated his head in his frantic but futile efforts to burst
his coffin open."
The Undertakers Journal, September 22, 1893.
" A shocking occurrence is reported from Cesa, a little village
near Naples. A woman living at that place was recently seized
with sudden illness. A doctor who was called certified that the
woman was dead, and the body was consequently placed in a
coffin, which was deposited in the watch-house of the local
cemetery. Next day an old woman passing close to the cemetery
thought she heard smothered cries proceeding from the watch-
house. The family was informed, but when the lid of the coffin
was forced off a shocking spectacle presented itself to the gaze of
the horrified villagers. The wretched woman had turned on her
side, and the position of her arm showed that she had made a
desperate effort to raise the lid. The eldest son, who was among
the persons who broke open the coffin, received such a shock that
he died three days later."
From the London Echo, October 6, 1894.
" A story of a horrible nature comes from St. Petersburg in
connection with the interment at Tioobayn, near that city, of a
peasant girl named Antonova. She had presumably died, and in
due course the funeral took place. After the service at the
cemetery, the grave-diggers were startled by sounds of moaning
proceeding from the coffin. Instead, however, of instantly breaking
NOISES FROM THE TOMB. S/
it open, they rushed off to find a doctor, and when he and some
officials arrived and broke open the shell, the unhappy inmate was
already the corpse she had been supposed to be a day earlier. It
was evident, however, that no efforts could have saved life at the
last moment. The body was half-turned in the coffin, the left hand,
having escaped its bandages, being under the cheek."
The London Star, August 19, 1895.
"Grenoble, August 17.
" On Monday last a man was found in a dying condition by the
side of a brook near the village of Le Pin. Everything possible
was done for him, but he relapsed into unconsciousness, and
became to all appearance dead. The funeral was arranged, and
there being no suspicion of foul play, the body was interred on
the following day. The coffin had been lowered to the bottom of
the grave, and the sexton had begun to cover it with earth, when
he heard muffled sounds proceeding from it. The earth was
hastily removed and the coffin opened, when it was discovered
that the unfortunate occupant was alive. He was taken to a
neighbouring house, but rapidly sank into a comatose condition,
and died without uttering a word. The second burial took place
yesterday."
A writer in the Referee, May 19, 1901, makes the
following statement : —
" I once, in my childhood's days, saw a man who had been
buried alive in the churchyard attached to St. Paul's Church,
Deptford. It was at the period of the terrible cholera visitation
which occurred, as near as I can remember, about fifty years ago.
The burial had proceeded as far as the dirt being sprinkled on the
coffin when the bystanders thought they heard a noise proceeding
from it. The coffin was quickly raised, and it was found that the
man had torn the nails of his hands and feet off in his endeavours
to get out. He was taken into my father's house, the Pilot, a
public-house now known by another sign, where he was promptly
attended to. I saw him about Deptford for years after. Perhaps
some old Deptford reader may also remember the circumstances."
PREMATURE BURIAL.
PRESENTIMENTS AND THEIR REALIZATION.
Mr. Oscar F. Shaw, Attorney-at-Law, 145 Broadway,
New York, furnished the author with particulars of the
following case, of which he had personal knowledge : —
"In or about the year 1851, Virginia Macdonald, who
up to that time had lived with her father in Catherine
Street, in the City of New York, apparently died, and
was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y.
" After the burial her mother declared her belief that
the daughter was not dead when buried, and persist-
ently asserted her belief. The family tried in various
ways to assure the mother of the death of her daughter,
and even resorted to ridicule for that purpose ; but the
mother insisted so long and so strenuously that her
daughter was buried alive, that finally the family con-
sented to have the body taken up, when, to their
horror, they discovered the body lying on the side, the
hands badly bitten, and every indication of a premature
burial."
The Daily Express of June 15, 1903, cites a horrible
case, from its Paris correspondent, of a boy buried
alive : —
"A ghastly incident is reported from Benevent, where a boy,
fourteen years of age, was taken ill, and three days ago was
declared to be dead. The mother went almost mad with grief, and
force had to be used to get the body from her for interment,
asserting that her son was not dead. The day after the funeral
she was discovered to have reopened the grave, removing the
earth with her hands, and to prove to her that her son was really
dead when buried the sexton opened the coffin. It was then found
that the boy, whose body was frightfully contorted, had actually
been suffocated in the coffin."
PRESENTIMENTS AND THEIR REALIZATION. 89
The Daily Mail, August 3, 1903, publishes the
following from its St. Petersburg correspondent :—
" A terrible occurrence is reported from the South Russian town,
Novocherkask. The wife of a landed proprietor in the vicinity
having died, the Orthodox priest persuaded the widower to have
her buried at once on account of the excessive heat, which was
likely to hasten decomposition. After the funeral, however, the
bereaved husband began to feel very uneasy, and on the third day
he asked the priest's permission to exhume the body to see if his
wife were really dead. When the coffin was opened a terrible
sight presented itself to the horror-stricken husband. There had
evidently been a great struggle, as through the ignorance of the
priest the woman had been buried while in a comatose state."
FROM "DEATH" TO LIFE AND ITS HORRORS.
The Lancet, May 22, 1858, p. 519, has the follow-
ing:—
"A case of restoration to consciousness after burial is recorded
by the Austrian journals in the person of a rich manufacturer,
named Oppelt, at Rudenberg. He was buried fifteen years ago,
and lately, on opening the vault, the lid of the coffin was found
forced open, and his skeleton in a sitting posture in a corner of the
vault. A Government Commission has reported on the matter."
From the Times, May 6, 1874, p. n, foot of col. 4.
"The Messager du Midi relates the following dreadful story :—
A young married woman residing at Salon (Douches du Rhone)
died shortly after her confinement in August last. The medical
man, who was hastily summoned when her illness assumed a
dangerous form, certified her death, and recommended immediate
burial in consequence of the intense heat then prevailing, and
six hours afterwards the body was interred. A few days since,
the husband having resolved to re-marry, the mother of his late
wife desired to have her daughter's remains removed to her native
town, Marseilles. When the vault was opened a horrible sight
presented itself. The corpse lay in the middle of the vault, with
7
90 PREMATURE BURIAL.
dishevelled hair and the linen torn to pieces. It evidently had
been gnawed in her agony by the unfortunate victim. The shock
which the dreadful spectacle caused to the mother has been so
great that fears are entertained for her reason, if not for her life."
The British Medical Journal, December 8, 1877,
p. 819, inserts the following:—
" A correspondent at Naples states that the Appeal Court has
had before it a case not likely to inspire confidence in the minds
of those who look forward with horror to the possibility of being
buried alive. It appeared from the evidence that some time ago
a woman was interred with all the usual formalities, it being
believed that she was dead, while she was only in a trance.
Some days afterwards, the grave in which she had been placed
being opened for the reception of another body, it was found that
the clothes which covered the unfortunate woman were torn to
pieces, and that she had even broken her limbs in attempting to
extricate herself from the living tomb. The Court, after hearing
the case, sentenced the doctor who had signed the certificate of
decease, and the mayor who had authorised the interment, each
to three months' imprisonment for involuntary manslaughter."
The following remarkable case of waking in the grave
is reported from Vienna : —
" A lady residing at Derbisch, near Kolin, in Bohemia, where
she owned considerable property, was buried last week, after a
brief illness, in the family vault at the local cemetery. Four days
afterwards her granddaughter was interred in the same place, but
as the stone slab covering the aperture was removed, the by-
standers were horrified to see that the lid of the coffin below had
been raised, and that the arm of the corpse was protruding. It
was ascertained eventually that the unfortunate lady, who was
supposed to have died of heart disease, had been buried alive.
She had evidently recovered consciousness for a few minutes, and
had found strength enough to burst open her coffin. The authori-
ties are bent on taking measures of the utmost severity against
those responsible." — Undertakers' Journal, August 22, 1889.
FROM "DEATH" TO LIFE AND ITS HORRORS. 91
The Undertakers' and Funeral Directors' Journal,
July 22, 1890.
"A horrible story comes from Majola, Mantua. The body of
a woman, named Lavrinia Merli, a peasant, who was supposed to
have died from hysterics, was placed in a vault on Thursday,
July 3. On Saturday evening it was found that the woman had
regained consciousness, torn her grave-clothes in her struggles,
had turned completely over in the coffin, and had given birth to a
seven-months'-old child. Both mother and child were dead when
the coffin was opened for the last time previous to interment."
The London Globe, October 26, 1896, mentions the
following case : —
"A soldier's wife was reported by a military surgeon to have
died during her confinement. She was buried on his certificate of
death ; but about two days afterwards the baby to whom she had
given birth was also reported dead. The mother's coffin was then
disinterred and opened, with the view of placing the deceased baby
in it ; but, horrible to relate, it was discovered by only too evident
signs that the woman had been buried alive, and had recovered
consciousness after burial."
EXHUMED WITHOUT AN ORDER.
The following case, published in the Spectator, October
19, 1895, is instructive in that the victim was exhumed
without an order from the Home Secretary, or waiting
for any formalities, and was restored to life : —
" Sir, — Apropos of your article and the correspondence about
being buried alive, in the Spectator of September 28, the enclosed
may interest you. It is an extract which I have copied to-day
out of a letter to a neighbour of mine from his brother in Ireland,
dated October 6, 1895: — 'About three weeks ago, our kitchen-
maid asked leave to go away for two or three days to see her
mother, who was dying. She came back again on a Friday or
92 PREMATURE BURIAL.
Saturday, saying her mother was dead and buried. On Wednesday
she got a letter saying her mother had been dug up, and was alive
and getting all right. So she went up to see her, and sure enough
there she was "right enough," as G says, having got out of
her trance, and knowing nothing about being in her grave from
Saturday till Tuesday. The only thing she missed was her rings ;
she could not make out where they had got to. Her daughter, it
seems, told the doctor on her way back here that it struck her that
her mother had never got stiff after death, and she could not help
thinking it was very odd ; and it made her very uncomfortable.
He never said a word ; and the kitchen-maid heard nothing until
she got the letter saying her mother was back again and alive.
Luckily, she did not "come to" until she had been taken out of
her coffin. It was a "rum go" altogether. They say exactly the
same thing happened to a sister of hers who is now alive and
well.' — I am, Sir, etc.,
"PEVERIL TURNBULL."
THE EVIDENCE OF UNDERTAKERS.
The Undertakers and Funeral Directors Journal, July
22, 1889, relates the following cases : —
"A New York undertaker recently tolcl the following story, the
circumstances of which are still remembered by old residents of
the city : — 'About forty years ago a lady living on Division Street.
New York City, fell dead, apparently, while in the act of dancing
at a ball. It was a fashionable affair, and being able to afford it.
she wore costly jewellery. Her husband, a flour merchant, who
loved her devotedly, resolved that she should be interred in her
ball dress, diamonds, pearls, and all ; also that there should be no
autopsy. As the weather was very inclement when the funeral
reached the cemetery, the body was placed in the receiving vault
for burial next day. The undertaker was not a poor man, but he-
was avaricious, and he made up his mind to possess the jewellery.
He went in the night, and took the lady's watch from the folds of
her dress. He next began to draw a diamond ring from her
finger, and in doing so had to use violence enough to tear the skin.
Then the lady moved and groaned, and the thief, terrified and
THE EVIDENCE OF UNDERTAKERS. 93
conscience -stricken, fled from the cemetery, and has never been since
heard from, that I know of. The lady, after the first emotions of
horror at her unheard-of position had passed over, gathered her
nerves together and stepped out of the vault, which the thief had
left open. How she came home I cannot tell ; but this I know —
she lived and had children, two at least of whom are alive to-day.'
"Another New York undertaker told this story. The New York
papers thirty-five years ago were full of its ghastly details. * The
daughter of a Court Street baker died. It was in winter, and the
father, knowing that a married sister of his dead child, who lived
in St. Louis, would like to see her face before being laid in the grave
for ever, had the body placed in the vault, waiting her arrival. The
sister came, the vault was opened, the lid of the coffin taken off,
when, to the unutterable horror of the friends assembled, they
found the grave-clothes torn in shreds, and the fingers of both
hands eaten off. The girl had been buried alive.'
"Until about forty years ago a noted family of Virginia pre-
•served a curious custom, which had been religiously observed for
more than a century. Over a hundred years ago a member of the
family died, and, upon being exhumed, was found to have been
buried alive. From that time until about 1850, every member of
the family, man, woman, or child, who died, was stabbed in the
heart with a knife in the hands of the head of the house. The
reason for the cessation of this custom was that in 1850 or there-
abouts, a beautiful young girl was supposed to be dead, the knife
was plunged into her bosom, when she gave vent to a fearful
scream and died. She had merely been in a trance. The incident
broke her father's heart, and in a fit of remorse he killed himself
not long afterwards.
"There are many families in the United States who, when any
of their number dies, insist that an artery be opened to determine
whether life has fled or not."
DR. CHEW'S REMINISCENCES.
While in India, in the early part of the year 1896,
Dr. Roger S. Chew, of Calcutta, who, having been laid
out for dead, and narrowly escaped living sepulture, has
\ ;
94 PREMATURE BURIAL.
had the best reasons for studying the subject, gave me
particulars of the following cases :—
" Frank Lascelles, aged thirty-two years, was seated at breakfast
with a number of us young fellows, and was in the middle of a
burst of hearty laughter when his head fell forward on his plate
and he was 'dead.' As there was a distinct history of cardiac dis-
ease in his family, while he himself had frequently been treated for
valvular disease of the heart, he was alleged to have 'died'' of car-
diac failure, and was duly interred in the Coonor Cemetery. Some
six months later, permission was obtained to remove his remains
to St. John's Churchyard in Ootacamund. The coffin was ex-
humed, and, as a ' matter of form,' the lid removed to identify the
resident, when, to the horror of the lookers-on, it was noticed that,
though mummification had taken place, there had been a fearful
struggle underground, for the body, instead of being on its back as
it was when first coffined, Avas lying on its face, with its arms and
legs drawn up as close as the confined space would permit. His
trousers (a perfectly new pair) were burst at the left knee, while his
shirt-front was torn to ribbons and bloodstained, and the wood of
that portion of the coffin immediately below his mouth was stained
a deep reddish-brown-black (blood). Old Dr. Donaldson, whom,
we were all very fond of, tried to explain matters by saying that the
jolting of the coffin on its way to the cemetery had overturned the
body, and that the blood stains on the shirt and wood were the
natural result of blood flowing (i.e., oozing) out of the mouth of the
corpse as it lay face do\vnwards. A nice theory, but scarcely a
probable one, as all the jolting in creation could not possibly turn
a corpse over in an Indian coffin, which is so built that there is
scarcely two inches spare space over any portion of the contained
body, and unless the supposed corpse regained consciousness and
exerted considerable force, it could not possibly turn round in its
narrow casket.
" Mary Norah Best, aged seventeen years, an adopted daughter
of Mrs. C. A. Moore, nee Chew, 'died' of cholera, and was en-
tombed in the Chew's vault in the old French cemetery at Calcutta.
The certifying surgeon was a man who would have benefited by
her death, and had twice (though ineffectually) attempted to put an
DR. CHEW'S REMINISCENCES. 95
end to her adopted mother, who fled from India to England after
the second attempt on her life, but, unfortunately, left the girl
behind. When Mary 'died3 she was put into a pine coffin, the
lid of which was nailed, not screwed, down. In 1881, ten years
or so later, the vault was unsealed to admit the body of Mrs.
Moore's brother, J. A. A. Chew. On entering the vault, the under-
taker's assistant and I found the lid of Mary's coffin on the floor,
while the position of the skeleton (half in, half out of the coffin,
and an ugly gash across the right parietal bone) plainly showed
that after being entombed Mary awoke from the trance, struggled
violently till she wrenched the lid off her coffin, when she either
fainted away with the strain of the effort in bursting open her
casket, and while falling forward over the edge of her coffin struck
her head against the masonry shelf, and died almost immediately ;
or, worse still — as surmised by some of her clothing which was
found hanging over the edge of the coffin, and the position of her
right hand, the fingers of which were bent and close to where
her throat would have been had the flesh not rotted away — she
recovered consciousness, fought for life, forced her coffin open, and
sitting up in the pitchy darkness of the vault went mad with
fright, tore her clothes off, tried to throttle herself, and banged her
head against the masonry shelf until she fell forward senseless
and dead."
COULD THE BATTLE-FIELD SPEAK.
The New York Herald (Paris), January 24, 1897,
says : —
"Dr. Good has not the slightest doubt that premature burial
may take place on the battle-field, and cited a case which was
afterwards confirmed by Dr. Halsterd Boyland, who was present at
'the time, and under whose eyes 'the dead man ' came to life. Dr.
Good continues : — About four o'clock in the afternoon on August
14, 1870, at the battle of Borny, near Metz, I saw a shell burst over
the head of a tirailleur posted about thirty yards to the right, and
in front of me he fell to the ground dead. At midnight, in going
over the field again to search for any wounded that might have
been overlooked, I chanced to pass by that same spot, and put my
96 PREMATURE BURIAL.
lantern to the man's face ; his eyes were open and bloodshot, and
from the nostrils and mouth had oozed a bloody froth. I turned
the head to the right and left to see where the shell had struck, but
not a scratch anywhere, and the body neither rigid nor cold. I
then ordered the infirmiers to put the man on a stretcher and carry
him to the little church where my temporary ambulance was estab-
lished. What was my surprise when Dr. Boyland, who was then
assistant surgeon-major in the same ambulance, came at four
o'clock in the morning to tell me that my dead man had come to
life again and asked a boire? Six weeks later that soldier, Martin,
was sent back to his regiment fit for service. Here the concussion
of the brain had caused inhibition of all the functions ; there was
no heart-beat perceptible nor any sign of respiration, and if the
sapeurs had come, as they sometimes did in the middle of the
night instead of early next morning to bury the dead, this poor
devil would have been thrown alive in the fosse communed
A correspondent in the Guernsey Star, of December
1 6, 1902, writes as follows :—
" Some years since a pensioner from the army worked for my
father. This ex-soldier had served, in the Peninsular wars,
Crimean, Indian, African. In one sanguinary battle he was badly
wounded, and picked up and laid on a heap with many others who
were supposed to be dead. A big trench was prepared, and when
ready the huge mass of dead bodies was removed into it. But now
and again a body was found to be still alive. The person of whom
I write was one of them. His opinion was that the hurried burial
of soldiers means the suffocating in the earth of many who would
recover from their wounds and loss of blood if given the chance.
Doubtless in the late war in Africa many have been buried who
were simply in a state of trance.;'
Dr. Chew narrated the following circumstance to the
author : —
"Shortly after the Afghan war of 1878, Surgeon-Major T. Barn-
well and I were told off to take a large number of time-expired
men, invalids, and wounded, to Deolali on their way to England.
COULD THE BATTLE-FIELD SPEAK. 97
Some of the wounded were in a very critical state, necessitating
great care ; one man in particular, Trooper Holmes, of the loth
Hussars, who had an ugly bullet-wound running along his left thigh
and under the groin. Our only means of transport for these poor
fellows was the ' palki ' or doolie carried by four bearers at a curious
swinging pace. When we got to Nowshera, Holmes seemed on a
fair way to recovery, but the swinging of the doolie seemed too
much for him, and he grew weaker day by day till we got to
Hassan Abdool, when we could not rouse him to take some
nourishment before starting on the march, and to all appearance
he seemed perfectly dead ; but as there was neither the time nor
convenience to hold a post-mortem, we carried the body on to
*John Nicholson,' where, the same difficulties being in the way,
and no facilities for burial, we were obliged to put the post-mortem
off for another day, and convey the corpse to Rawal Pindi rest
camp, where we laid him on the floor of the mortuary tent and
covered him over with a tarpaulin. This was his salvation, as
next morning (i.e., the third day succeeding his 'death'), when we
raised the tarpaulin to hold the post-mortem, some hundreds of
field mice (these tracts are noted for them) rushed out, and we
noticed that Holmes was breathing, though very slowly — five or
six respirations to the minute— and there were a few teeth marks
where the mice had attacked his calves. To prevent a relapse by
the jolting on further marches, we handed him over to the station
hospital staff, who pulled him round, and then forwarded him to
the headquarters of his regiment at Meerut."
CHAPTER V.
XARROW ESCAPES FROM PREMATURE
BURIAL.
ALMOST every intelligent and observant person with
whom you converse, if the subject be introduced, has either
known or heard of narrow escapes from premature burial
within his or her own circle of friends or acquaintances ;
and it is no exaggeration to say that such cases are
numbered by thousands. It is to be hoped that the
number of timely discoveries vastly exceed those actually
interred in a state of suspended animation ; but as no
investigation of graveyards or cemeteries (which effec-
tually conceal their own tragedies) has ever taken place
in England until the remains are reduced to dust, and
rarely in other countries, one cannot be sure that this
optimistic view is correct.
An apparent suspension of life, following a serious
illness, is usually considered a satisfactory proof of the
reality of the expected death ; but these conditions can-
not always be relied upon, as the following illustration
proves : —
A LEAF FROM EDITOR'S CASE BOOK.
I had been attending for some time (about seven
years ago) a child aged three years, who had suffered
primarily from convulsions, followed by vomiting and
diarrhoea, with subsequent exhaustion and emaciation.
A LEAF FROM EDITOR'S CASE BOOK. 99
There seemed no hope of recovery, and I left my little
patient one night fully believing I had seen him for the
last time alive. I was late on my country rounds next
day, and when I arrived at the cottage I noticed the
blinds were drawn, and, upon entering, my eyes at once
fell upon a couch pushed into a corner of the room, and
covered by a white sheet, whilst the broken-hearted
parents were weeping by the settle. I sat down and
tried to comfort them, and finally left directions as to
the hour when they might send for the death certificate.
Before leaving I walked toward the couch, and drew
back the covering from the pale waxen face. The jaw
was fastened by a band in the usual way, coppers had
been placed over the eyelids, and all was in readiness
for the shell, which the undertaker was expected to
bring in a few minutes. As I stood looking intently at
the child I fancied I detected the slightest movement of
the chest. It could but be imagination, I thought ;
nevertheless, instinctively I felt for the wrist, but failed
to detect a pulse. Still, I watched — there again was
that tremor ! I applied my stethoscope to the region of
the heart without response, but, feeling dissatisfied, I
undid the nightdress, and applied the instrument to the
bare skin. I could hardly believe my ears— there was
undoubtedly a beat ! I shall never forget the shriek
which the mother gave when I said, " Mrs. W— — , your
child is not dead ! " I at once applied hot flannels to
the feet, and gently massaged the body for two or three
hours, and had the satisfaction before I left — long after
the undertaker had come and gone — of seeing the child
taking nourishment in its mother's arms. He is now a
fine, strong, healthy lad. He might have been — otherwise.
100 NARROW ESCAPES.
" DEAD " — BY MEDICAL CERTIFICATE.
This danger is further illustrated by an incident which
was related at a meeting of the London Association for
the Prevention of Premature Burial, January 28, 1903 :—
"A lady, living at Holland Road, Kensington, testified that on
hearing the news of the loss of her property, she went into violent
hysterics for two hours, and then was thought to have died. After
being left for twenty-four hours, she was taken out of her bed,
rolled on the floor, and needles and pins were stuck in her. Next
morning one of the servants, on looking at her body on the bed,
thought it moved. The doctor was sent for again, but he certified
that she was undoubtedly dead, and so the coffin was ordered.
Three hours afterwards her daughter said : — ' I don't think mother
is dead,' and applied some brandy to the cold lips. 'Then I came to,5
said the lady, who added, 'That was five years ago — I Jiave my death
certificate at home !!! Although I could not move, I could hear
everything. I heard the men take my measurement for the coffin.' ;'
" That," said Mr. Arthur Lovell (the hon. sec.) " was a
state of trance with which I am rather familiar. What
we want are State-appointed certifiers to examine all
cases of supposed decease."
"Another lady in the meeting certified that she knew a girl at
Kensington who "came to' after being pronounced dead, and who
remembers hearing the doctor say — 'Ah, poor thing, now she is
out of her suffering.'"
The Daily Express, of March 20, 1903, and the Daily
Mail, of the 9th, give details of the supposed death of a
well-known lady, who, with her family, had long resided
in the village of Woore, near Keele, North Staffordshire,
and who, after having been certified as dead by the
local physician, was laid ready for interment :—
"All preparations for the funeral had been made, and friends
and relatives assembled to take a final farewell. As the mourners
"DEAD" — BY MEDICAL CERTIFICATE. lor
watched, the eyes of the lady were seen to open and her lips to
move. Life had returned to the supposed corpse. The news of
the strange event spread throughout the village and district, and
produced the greatest excitement."
The Daily Express, of January 20, 1902, contains the
following : —
" Fran Alexandre Szabo, of Debreczin, Hungary, was certified
dead by two doctors. She was placed in a coffin and the lid
screwed down. As the coffin was being taken from the house the
bearers heard a noise within it. It was opened, and the woman
was found to be alive."
The Undertakers Journal, July 22, 1893, says :—
" Charles Walker was supposed to have died suddenly at St.
Louis a few days ago, and a burial certificate was obtained in due
course from the coroner's office. The body was lying in the coffin,
and the relatives took a farewell look at the features, and withdrew
as the undertaker's assistants advanced to screw down the lid. One
of the undertaker's men noticed, however, that the position of the
body in the coffin seemed to have undergone some slight change,
and called attention to the fact. Suddenly, without any warning,
the 'corpse' sat up in the coffin and gazed round the room. A
physician was summoned, restoratives were applied, and in half an
hour the supposed corpse was in a warm bed, sipping weak brandy
and water, and taking a lively interest in the surroundings. Heart-
failure had produced a species of syncope resembling death that
deceived even experts."
The Banner of LigJit, Boston, July 28, 1894, quotes
the following case of apparent sudden death medically
certified : —
" Sprakers, a village not far from Rondout, N.Y., was treated to
a sensation Tuesday, July 10, by the supposed resurrection from
the dead of Miss Eleanor Markham, a young woman of respect-
ability, who to all appearance had died on Sunday, July 8.
102 NARROW ESCAPES.
" Miss Markham about a fortnight ago complained of heart
trouble, and was treated by Dr. Howard. She grew weaker
gradually, and on Sunday morning apparently breathed her last,
to the great grief of her relatives, by whom she was much beloved.
The doctor pronounced her dead, and furnished the usual burial
certificate.
"Undertaker Jones took charge of the funeral arrangements.
On account of the warm weather it was decided that the interment
should take place Tuesday, and in the morning Miss Markham
was put in the coffin.
"After her relatives had taken the last look on what they sup-
posed was their beloved dead, the lid of the coffin was fastened on,
and the undertaker and his assistant took it to the hearse waiting
outside. As they approached the hearse a noise was heard, and
the coffin was put down and opened in short order. Behold ! there
was poor Eleanor Markham lying on her back, her face white and
contorted, and her eyes distended.
" ' My God ! ; she cried, in broken accents. ' Where am I ? You
are burying me alive.' ' Hush ! child,' said Dr. Howard, who
happened to be present. ' You are all right. It is a mistake easily
rectified.'
"The girl was then taken into the house and placed on the bed,
when she fainted. While the doctor was administering stimulating
restoratives the trappings of woe were removed, and the hearse
drove away with more cheerful rapidity than a hearse was ever
driven before.
" 1 1 was conscious all the time you were making preparations to
bury me,' she said, 'and the horror of my situation is altogether
beyond description. I could hear everything that was going on,
even a whisper outside the door, and although I exerted all my
will-power, and made a supreme physical effort to cry out, I was
powerless. ... At first I fancied the bearers would not hear
me, but when I felt one end of the coffin falling suddenly, I knew
that I had been heard.'
" Miss Markham is on a fair way to recovery, and what is
strange is that the flutterings of the heart that brought on her
illness are gone."
RESTORATION TO LIFE. IO3
THIRTEEN DAYS AFTER "DEATH."
In a letter received from Mrs. H. E. Wright, of
2 Bedford Road, Ilford, Essex, under date May 31, 1897,
she says : — " A friend of mine was supposed to die of
cholera at Boulogne some years ago. She heard all the
preparations being made for her funeral, when fortunately,
by a desperate exertion, she managed to give signs of
life. I know of another somewhat similar case ; but the
most extraordinary case I ever heard of was one related
by an aged relative, which happened in a ladies' boarding-
school at Edinburgh, in which she was pupil. This must
have been between eighty and ninety years ago. A
young girl from the West Indies was confided in an
especial manner to the care of the lady principal. One
day the girl died, after having been indisposed for a few
days. The best doctors in Edinburgh — one of the chief
medical schools in the world — pronounced the girl dead,
and wanted to have her buried, but the principal declared
that nothing on earth would induce her to have the child
buried until unmistakable signs of corruption showed
themselves ; but days passed and no signs to satisfy the
good lady appeared, who meanwhile kept applying hot
bread to the soles of the feet. At last, after ten days or
so, even the eminent doctors began to be staggered. At
the end of thirteen days, when the principal went to her
room with hot bread, she found the girl sitting up in bed,
rubbing her eyes in a somewhat bewildered manner, and
expressing a desire to get up and set about her lessons.
It is quite possible that had she not come from such a
distance her own relations might have been called in,
and the poor child buried ; but in days when there were
104 NARROW ESCAPES.
no steamers, and a voyage to the West Indies might
mean two or three months, the schoolmistress felt all
the agony of letting the parents know that their daughter
had been dead many weeks before the information came
to them. So she acted with the determination of despair,
and acted wisely and well."
A RESUSCITATED HUMORIST.
The Undertakers' and Funeral Directors Journal of
May, 1888, narrates an interesting and apparently
trustworthy story : —
"Mrs. Lockhart, of Birkhill, who died in 1825, used to relate to
her grandchildren the following anecdote of her ancestor, Sir
William Lindsay, of Covington, towards the close of the seventeenth
century : — ' Sir William was a humorist, and noted, moreover,
for preserving the picturesque appendage of a beard at a period
when the fashion had long passed away. He had been extremely-
ill, and life was at last supposed to be extinct, though, as it
afterwards turned out, he was merely in a " dead faint " or trance.
The female relatives were assembled for the " chesting ;; — the
act of putting a corpse into a coffin, with the entertainment given
on such melancholy occasions — in a lighted chamber in the old
tower of Covington, where the "bearded knight" lay stretched
upon his bier. But when the servants were about to enter to
assist at the ceremonies, Isabella Somerville, Sir William's great-
granddaughter, and Mrs. Lockhart's grandmother, then a child,
creeping close to her mother, whispered into her ear, " The beard
is wagging ! the beard is wagging ! " Mrs. Somerville, upon this,
looked to the bier, and, observing indications of life in the ancient
knight, made the company retire, and Sir William soon came out
of his faint. Hot bottles were applied and cordials administered,
and in the course of the evening he was able to converse with his
family. They explained that they had believed him to be actually
dead, and that arrangements had even been made for his funeral.
In answer to the question, "Have the folks been warned?" (i.e.,
A RESUSCITATED HUMOURIST. IO5
invited to the funeral) he was told that they had — that the funeral
day had been fixed, an ox slain, and other preparations made for
entertaining the company. Sir William then said, " All is as it
should be ; keep it a dead secret that I am in life, and let the
folks come." His wishes were complied with, and the company
assembled for the burial at the appointed time. After some delay,
occasioned by the non-arrival of the clergyman, as was supposed,
and which afforded an opportunity of discussing the merits of the
deceased, the door suddenly opened, when, to their surprise and
terror, in stepped the knight himself, pale in countenance and
dressed in black, leaning on the arm of the minister of the parish
of Covington. Having quieted their alarm and explained matters,
he called upon the clergyman to conduct an act of devotion, which
included thanksgiving for his recovery and escape from being
buried alive. This done, the dinner succeeded. A jolly evening,
after the manner of the time, was passed, Sir William himself
presiding over the carousals.' "
RESTORATION BY WARMTH.
The Lancet, November 27, 1858, p. 561, cites a re-
markable case which was afterwards corroborated in all
its details by the surgeon who attended the patient, Mr.
R. B. Mason, M.R.C.S., of Nuneaton.
" The girl, whose name is Amelia Hinks, is twelve or
thirteen years of age, and resides with her parents in
Bridge Street, Nuneaton. She had lately appeared to
be sinking under the influence of some ill-explained
disorder, and about three weeks since, as her friends
imagined, she died. The body was removed to another
room. It was rigid and icy cold. It was washed and
laid out with all due funereal train. The limbs were
decently placed, the eyelids closed and penny-pieces
laid over them. The coffin was ordered. For more
8
106 NARROW ESCAPES.
than forty-eight hours the supposed corpse lay beneath
the winding-sheet, when it happened that her grand-
father, coming from Leamington to assist in the last
mournful ceremonies, went to see the corpse. The old
man removed a penny-piece, and he thought that the
corpse winked ! There was a convulsive movement of
the lid. This greatly disturbed his composure ; for,
though he had heard that she died with her eyes open,
he was unprepared for this palpebral signal of her good
understanding with death. A surgeon is said to have
been summoned, who at first treated the matter as a
delusion, but subsequently ascertained stethoscopically
that there was still slight cardiac pulsation. The body
was then removed to a warm room, and gradually the
returning signs of animation became unequivocal. When
speech was restored, the girl described many things
which had taken place since her supposed death. She
knew who had closed her eyes and placed the coppers
thereon. She also heard the order given for her coffin,
and could repeat the various remarks made over her as
she lay in her death-clothes. She refused food, though
in a state of extreme debility. She has since shown
symptoms of mania, and is now said to have relapsed
into a semi-cataleptic condition."
The Lancet, March 5, 1859, p. 254, writes further:—
" Another case of trance is reported, in addition to
those which we have lately recorded. A widow named
Aufray, about sixty years of age, of St. Agnan de
^enuieres (Eure), long seriously ill, became suddenly
vvorse, grew cold and motionless, and, as it was thought,
SAVED AT THE LAST MOMENT. IO/
dead. She was laid out, the coffin ordered, and the
church bell tolled. She recovered consciousness just
before the funeral was to take place."
APPARENT DEATH IN PREGNANCY.
Hufeland (one of the greatest authorities on the subject
in Germany), in his essay upon the uncertainty of the
signs of death, tells of a case of the wife of Professor
Camerer, of Tubingen, who was hysterical, and had a
fright in the sixth month of her pregnancy, that brought
on convulsions (eclampsia), which continued for four
hours, when she seemed to die completely. Two cele-
brated physicians, besides three others of less note, re-
garded the case as ended in death, as all the recognised
signs of death were present. However, attempts to
revive her were at once resorted to, and were continued
for five hours, when all the medical attendants, except
one, gave the case up, and left. The physician who
remained pulled off a blister-plaster that had been put
on one of the feet, when the lady gave feeble signs of life
by twitchings about the mouth. The doctor then re-
newed his efforts to revive her, by various stimulating
means, and by burning, and by pricking the spine ; but
all in vain, for after her slight evidences of revival, she
seemed to die unmistakably. She lay in a state of
apparent death for six days, but there was a small space
over the heart where a little warmth could be detected
by the hand, and on this account the burial was put off.
On the seventh day she opened her eyes, and slowly
revived, but was completely unconscious of all that had
happened. She then gave birth to a dead child, and
soon thereafter recovered her health completely.
108 NARROW ESCAPES.
AFTER PREGNANCY.
Dr. Frederick A. Floyer, of Mortimer, Berks, published
the following case in the Tocsin, November i, 1889,
vol. i., p. 84, under the head of " Premature Burial " :—
" A narrow escape of this was recently communicated
direct to the writer, and as it has some extremely im-
portant bearings on the value of what are usually
considered to be evidences of death, we give it as
told by the survivor, who is still alive in the form of
a cheery and intelligent old lady in the fullest possession
of her faculties and memory.
" Herself the wife of a medical officer attached to
the — th Regiment, she was stationed at Island,
where at the age of twenty-eight she was safely confined.
Shortly after this she was walking out with an attendant
when she was taken suddenly ill with a painful spasm
of the heart — what appears to have been an attack
of angina pectoris — and was conveyed indoors and
propped up with pillows, suffering great pain, and
although medical attendance was summoned, nothing
was of avail, and she died — at least in the opinion of
those around her, who paid the proper attention to
what they regarded as a corpse. It was the custom
there to bury at sundown anyone who died during
the day, We understand that in warm countries it is
difficult to close the eyelids properly, and so this lady,
lying motionless and rigid, contemplated with perfectly
clear perception, but with an utter indifference, the bring-
ing in of the coffin and the necessary preparations for her
interment ; she remembers her children coming to take
a last look at her, and then being taken down stairs.
AFTER PREGNANCY. JOQ
" She would never have lived to tell the story but for
an accident, which happened in this way. Her nurse,
who was much attached to her, was stroking her face
and the muscles of her jaw, and presently declared she
heard a sound of breathing. Medical assistance was
summoned, and the mirror test applied, but the surface
was undimmed. Then, to make sure, they opened a
vein in each arm, but no blood flowed. No limb
responded to stimulus, and they declared that the nurse
was mistaken, and that the body was dead beyond
doubt.
" But the nurse persisted in her belief and in her
attentions, and did succeed in establishing a sign of life.
Then mustard applications to her feet and to the back
of her neck, and burnt feathers applied to her nostrils,
which she remembered burning her nose, completed her
return to consciousness."
DISCUSSION IN THE FRENCH SENATE.
The Medical Times, London, 1866, vol. i., p. 258, under
the heading " Buried Alive," remarks as follows : — " The
abundance of other topics hinders us at present from
saying more than a few words on the conditions under
which there may be real danger of burial before life is
quite extinct Now, we will only reproduce the cases
reported by Cardinal Archbishop Donnet, in the French
Senate, in a discussion on a petition that the time
between death and burial should be lengthened. We
will add one instance, which we have heard on the best
authority : — About thirty years ago, a young woman
of eighteen, daughter of Madame Laligand, living in
the Rue des Tonnelliers, at Beaune, in Burgundy, was
1 10 NARROW ESCAPES.
supposed to have died. The ordinary measures were
taken for interment. The body was put in a coffin, and
taken to the church; the funeral service was said, and the
cortege set out for the cemetery ; but on the road
between the church and the cemetery the supposed dead
recovered power of motion and speech, was removed
from the coffin, put to bed, recovered, married, and lived
eighteen years afterwards. She said she retained her
consciousness during the whole of her supposed death,
and had counted the nails that were driven into her
coffin. Statements such as these, and such as those
made by the Archbishop, will surely be subjected to the
ordeal of a French scientific commission, and wre may
suspend our judgment for the present. To return to his
Eminence. He said he had the very best reasons for
believing that the victims of hasty interments were more
numerous than people supposed. He considered the
rules and regulations prescribed by the law very
judicious ; but, unfortunately, they were, particularly in
the country, not always executed as they should be, nor
was sufficient importance attached to them. In the
village he was stationed in as an assistant-curate in the
first period of his sacerdotal life, he saved two persons
from being buried alive. The first an aged man, who
lived twelve hours after the hour prescribed for his
interment by the municipal officer; the second was a man
who was quite restored to life. In both cases a trance
more prolonged than usual was taken for actual death."
CALLED BACK TO LIFE.
" The other instances," says the Medical Times cor-
respondent, " I give in the words of the Archbishop :—
DISCUSSION IN THE FRENCH SENATE. Ill
"'The next case that occurred to me was at Bordeaux. A
young lady, who bore one of the most distinguished names in
the Department, had passed through what was supposed the last
agony, and, as apparently all was over, the father and mother
were torn away from the heartrending spectacle. As God willed
it, I happened to pass the door of the house at the moment,
when it occurred to me to call and inquire how the young lady
was going on. When I entered the room, the nurse, finding the
body breathless, was in the act of covering the face, and, indeed,
there was every appearance that life had departed. Somehow or
other, it did not seem to me so certain as to the bystanders. I
resolved to try. I raised my voice, called loudly upon the young
lady not to give up all hope — that I was come to cure her, and
that I was about to pray by her side. "You do not see me," I
said, "but you hear what I am saying." My presentiments were
not unfounded. The word of hope I uttered reached her ear and
effected a marvellous change, or, rather, called back the life that
was departing. The young girl survived ; she is now a wife, and
mother of children, and this day is the happiness of two most
respectable families.'
" The Archbishop mentioned another instance of a
similar revival in a town in Hungary during the cholera
of 1831, which he heard that day from one of his
colleagues of the Senate, as they were mounting the
staircase."
ARCHBISHOP'S STARTLING EXPERIENCE.
The last incident related by the Archbishop is so
interesting, and made such a sensation, that it deserves
to be repeated in his own words :—
"'In the summer of 1826, on a close summer day, in a church
which was exceedingly crowded, a young priest, who was in the act
of preaching, was suddenly seized with giddiness in the pulpit.
The words he was uttering became indistinct ; he soon lost the
power of speech, and sank down on the floor. He was taken out
of the church and carried home. All was thought to be over.
112 NARROW ESCAPES.
Some hours after, the funeral bell was tolled, and the usual
preparations made for the interment. His eyesight was gone ; but
if he could see nothing, like the young lady I have alluded to, he
could hear, and I need not say that what reached his ears was not
calculated to reassure him. The doctor came, examined him,
and pronounced him dead ; and after the usual inquiries as to
his age and the place of his birth, etc., gave permission for his
interment next morning. The venerable bishop, in whose cathedral
the young priest was preaching when he was seized with the fit,
came to his bedside to recite the " De Profundis." The body was
measured for the coffin. Night came on, and you will easily feel
how inexpressible was the anguish of the human being in such a
situation. At last, amid the voices murmuring around him, he
distinguished that of one whom he had known from infancy. That
voice produced a marvellous effect and superhuman effort. Of
what followed I need say no more than that the seemingly dead
man stood next day in the same pulpit. That young priest,
gentlemen, is the same man who is now speaking before you, and
who, more than forty years after that event, implores those in
authority, not merely to watch vigilantly over the careful execution
of the legal prescriptions with regard to interments, but to enact
fresh ones in order to prevent the recurrence of irreparable
misfortunes.' "
AGAIN DISCUSSED BUT NOTHING DONE.
To this report of the Medical* Times, it may be added
that the petition of M. de Carnot furnished statistics
showing the frequency of these terrible disasters, and
suggested various preventive measures, including the
establishment of mortuaries, a longer interval between
death and burial, and the application of scientific
methods of restoration where decomposition is not
manifest. The reality of the terrible clangers, as pointed
out by Cardinal Donnet, was confirmed by Senators
Tourangin and Viscount de Baral, in the recital of other
cases of premature interment.
AGAIN DISCUSSED BUT NOTHING DONE. 113
When the subject was revived in the Senate on
January 29, 1869 — on which occasion five petitions were
presented, urging important reforms, and detailing other
cases of premature interment — Cardinal Donnet again
took part in the debate, and urged that no burial should
be permitted without the signature of a doctor or officer
of health, as well as the written authorisation of the
Mayor, so that the fact of death might always be verified.
The Cardinal then furnished particulars of another recent
case of premature interment in 1'Est, and recalled the
fact that one of their honourable colleagues of the
Senate, M. le Comte de la Rue, had had a narrow
escape from live sepulture.
The several petitions were forwarded to the Minister
of the Interior, but nothing was done to remedy the evil.
MEDICAL EXPERIENCES.
''Dr. Brewer," says the Lancet, of June 2, 1866, p.
6ii,"in the course of the address delivered to the
Guardians of St. George's at St. James's Hall, adverted
to the 'laying-out' case at St. Pancras, and dwelt upon
the question of suspended animation in a passage which
really deserves to be quoted."
" I have been more than once under a condition of apparently
suspended respiration, and with circumstances less comfortable
than those related of this babe ; and yet, active as is my brain,
and sensitive as is my body, I remember as well as though it were
but yesterday that, on being restored to consciousness, no feeling
of discomfort of any kind attended my experience on either occasion.
It is under the truth to say I have known a score of cases of those
who have been supposed dead being reanimated. It is not many
months ago a friend of mine, a rector of a suburban parish, was
pronounced by his medical attendant to be dead. His bed was
114 NARROW ESCAPES.
arranged, and the room left in its silence. His daughter had
re-entered and sat at the foot, and the solemn toll of his own
church bell was vibrating through the chamber, when a hand drew
aside the closed curtain, and a voice came from the occupant of
the bed — 'Elizabeth, my dear, what is that bell tolling for?'
The daughters response was, perhaps, an unfortunate one : ' For
you, Papa.'r'
Dr. 13. \V. Richardson quotes a case in the Lancet,
1888, vol. ii., p. 1179, of a man who, in 1869, was
rendered cataleptic by a lightning - stroke, and who
narrowly escaped living burial.
Dr. Franz Hartmann, in "Premature Burial," pp. 14-17,
cites a remarkable case of an Englishman who " died "
o
of typhoid fever and was buried, but four days after was
exhumed and placed on the cold slab of the dissecting
room ; when an incision was made in the breast, the
(i dead man " suddenly awoke, and grasped the wrist of
the anatomist. The Englishman subsequently published
in Blackivood's Magazine an account of his terrible
experience.
Dr. H. S. Tanner, in a letter in the New York Times,
January 18, 1880, mentions two cases where persons
awakened from trance at the moment of sepulture
described in turn what their feelings had been. Said
one :—
" Have you ever felt the paralysing influence of a horrible
nightmare? If you have had such experience, then you are
prepared to conceive of the mental agonies I endured when
I realised that my friends believed me dead, and were making
preparations for my burial. The hours and days of mental
struggle spent in the vain endeavour to break loose from the
vice-like grasp of this worse than horrible nightmare was a hell
of torment such as no tongue can describe or pen portray."
MEDICAL EXPERIENCES. 115
Dr. Johnson, of St. Charles, Illinois, is the other
instance mentioned by Dr. Tanner, who in his hearing,
and in the presence of a large audience in Harrison's
Hall, Minneapolis, stated that when a young man he
was prostrated with a fever. He swooned away,
apparently dead. His attending physician said he was
dead. His father was faithless and unbelieving, and
refused to bury him. He lay in this condition, appar-
ently dead, fourteen days. The attending physician
brought other physicians to examine the apparently
lifeless form, and all stated unqualifiedly, " He is dead."
Some fourteen physicians, among them many eminent
professors, examined the body, and there was no
ambiguity in the expression of their conclusion that
the boy was dead. But the father still turned a cleaf
ear to all entreaties to prepare the body for the grave.
Public feeling was at last aroused. The health officer
and other city officers, acting in their official capacity,
and by the advice of physicians, peremptorily demanded
that the body be interred without delay. On the
fourteenth day the father yielded under protest ; pre-
parations were made for the funeral, when the emotions
of the still living subject, who was conscious of all
transpiring around him, were so intense as to be the
means of his deliverance. He awoke from his trance.
Dr. O'Neill, of Lincoln, writes to the Lancet, June /,
1884, p. 1058 :—
" Without venturing to express an opinion on the case
mentioned by the Rev. D. Williams1 in the Lancet of
the 24th inst, I would beg to say that I have no doubt
J The case referred to, being attended with doubt, is omitted.
Il6 NARROW ESCAPES.
in my own mind but that people are sometimes ' buried
alive.' An instance has come to my knowledge where
this catastrophe was only avoided by a mere accident.
A lady, about forty-five years of age, the wife of a
clergyman in a northern county, wras taken ill, and after
some time, as was supposed, died. The funeral was
delayed, and so was the closing of the coffin, in con-
sequence of the absence of a son of the lady from home.
When the boy arrived, the kissing, wailing, and com-
motion roused the supposed dead woman, and brought
her to consciousness in her coffin. This lady would
most probably have been buried alive were it not that
the obsequies were delayed on account of the circum-
stance mentioned.
" Now, may not cases more or less similar to this
sometimes occur, with the catastrophe of ' buried alive '
added to them? But no such case could happen if it
were made compulsory that the interment of a body
should not be allowed to take place until after de-
composition had set in, as attested by a medical man."
Dr. Moore Russell Fletcher in " Suspended Animation
and the Danger of Burying Alive," p. 62, writes : —
'' ' Seven hours in a coffin added ten years to my life/
was the remark of Martin Strong, of Twelfth Street,
Philadelphia, some time after quitting the coffin in
which his family had placed him for burial, after Dr.
Cummings had given a certificate of his death. Frank
Stoop, of Clarinda, Iowa, was laid out for burial not
long since, a physician having certified to his death ;
but fortunately he awoke from his state of coma in time
to save his life."
MEDICAL EXPERIENCES. 1 1/
On p. 26, Dr. Fletcher cites another remarkable case:—
"In June, 1869, a girl in Cleveland, Ohio, was taken ill, and
after a short sickness died, and was laid out for burial ; but as
her mother insisted that she was not dead, efforts were made for
some time to restore her to life, but in vain. Her mother, how-
ever, refused to let her be buried ; and on the fifth day after that
set for the funeral the slamming of a door aroused her, so that
she recovered. She stated that, during most of the eight days
which she lay there, she was conscious, and heard what was said,
although wholly unable to make the least motion."
Dr. Colin S. Valentine, LL.D., Principal of the Medical
Missionary Training College, Agra, N.W.P., told the
author during his visit to Agra, February, 1896, that
Captain Young, an officer in the regiment of which he
(Dr. Valentine) was at that time army surgeon, who had
been dreadfully mauled while tiger-hunting in Madras,
was laid out for dead, and all the arrangements were made
for his funeral at six o'clock that evening, when con-
sciousness returned, and he lived for twenty years after.
Dr. A. Stephenson, in a lecture on the "Signs of Death
and Disposal of the Dead," delivered at Nottingham,
January 9, 1896, said he once attended a girl living in
that locality who was in a trance. All the preparations
were made for her funeral, and the grave ordered. She
remained in a trance three days, and her mother was
annoyed because he would not sign her death-certificate.
On the third day she slowly rose and recovered. The
girl would have been buried unless he had had a very
great fear of her being buried alive.
DANGER IN WASTING DISEASES.
Medical literature contains reports of numerous
instances of collapse and apparent death in times of
IlS NARROW ESCAPES.
epidemics, such as plague, cholera, and small-pox. The
danger is increased by the anxiety and necessity for
speed}" interment, owing to the usually overcrowded
condition of hospitals and mortuaries and the fear of the
spread of infection. Premature burial becomes a real
danger, and the cases of narrow escape during these
periods of panic are innumerable.
A solicitor, living in Gloucester, recently informed the
editor that, when first in practice, he had as caretaker
of his offices an old woman who, with her husband, had
been in charge of the cholera wards, erected just outside
the city, at the time of the severe epidemic of 1849, when,
in Gloucester alone, there were 119 fatal cases. She
told him that as soon as the patients were dead they
put them in shells and screwed them down, so as to get
them out of the way as quickly as possible, as the small
sheds (which are still standing) were so crowded. "Some-
times," she callously remarked, "they come to afterwards,
and we did hear 'em kicking in their coffins, but we
never unscrewed 'em, 'cause we knew they'd got to die ! "
NARROW ESCAPES IN CHOLERA.
Dr. Chew communicated the two following cases to
the author during his sojourn in Calcutta in the early part
of 1896:—
" In March, 1877, Assistant-Surgeons H. A. Borthwick,
S. Blake, H. B. Rogers, and myself received orders to
proceed from Rawal Pindi by bullock-train to Peshawur
to join the various regiments we were to be posted to
for duty, We had just passed a place called Rati when
Borthwick showed strong symptoms of cholera, from
NARROW ESCAPES IN CHOLERA. 1 19
which he suffered all that night. The nearest hospital
was twenty-five miles behind us, and though we had
neither medicines nor sick-room comforts with us, we
had no alternative but to journey onwards, because the
train-drivers (Indians) refused to turn back, and if we
did return to Rawal Pindi we would have been court-
martialled for disobeying lawful commands and coming
back without orders to do so. Travelling by bullock-
train is very slow work, and far from a comfortable
mode of transit ; however, we were obliged to make the
best of it, and early next morning Borthwick was cold,
stiff, and seemingly dead. Here was a fine state of affairs
— the nearest cantonment, which we had no expectation
of reaching (i.e., Nowshera) before nine p.m., was thirty-
six miles off, and by the time we arrived at it, it would
have been too late to approach the authorities, while
Peshawur, our destination, was another twenty-nine miles
further off. Dispose of the body we dare not, and we
had no choice but to continue our route. All that day
there was not a movement or other sign to show that life
was not extinct, and affairs seemed no better by five p.m.
next day, when we reached Peshawur. The apparent
corpse was lifted out of the bullock-train and carried
into the hospital dispensary (where a strong fire was
blazing) preparatory to papers being signed and arrange-
ments made for its final disposal. Whether it was the
heat of the fire before which he was placed, or whether
the vibriones had produced an antitoxin, I am not pre-
pared to argue ; but we do know that Borthwick recovered
consciousness while lying on the bed in that dispensary,
and that he whom we mourned as dead returned to life.
He served in the same military stations with me in the
120 NARROW ESCAPES.
North- West Frontier till 1880, when he accompanied
me to the Calcutta Medical College, where we parted
company in February, 1882, I bound for Egypt and he
for frontier duty. At first we corresponded regularly,
but since 1885 we have lost touch of each other."
" When the East Norfolk regiment was out cholera-
dodging in 1878, Colour-Sergeant T. Hall and Corporal
\V. Bellomy were sent into cantonments for burial as
cholera corpses in the Nowshera Cemetery. There was
some delay in the interment owing to a difficulty in
obtaining the wood necessary for their coffins, so both
bodies were placed in the dead-house, which was gener-
ously sprinkled with disinfectants to ward off the risk
of contagion. First Hall and then Bellomy regained
consciousness, and were duly returned to duty. The
following year Bellomy was ' invalided ' to England,
where I understand he now enjoys the best of health."
The Undertakers' Journal^ May 22, 1895, has the
following : —
" The Reverend Harry Jones, in his reminiscences, and as a
London clergyman, declares his conviction that in times of panic
from fatal epidemics it is not unlikely that some people are buried
alive. Mr. Jones recalls a case within his knowledge of a young
woman pronounced to be dead from cholera, and actually laid out
for the usual collecting cart to call from the undertakers, when a
neighbour happened to come in and lament over her. The story
continues thus: 'And is poor Sarah really dead?' she cried.
'Well,' said her mother, 'she is, and she will soon be fetched away ;
but if you can do anything you may do it.' Acting on this per-
mission, the practical neighbour set about rubbing Sarah profusely
with mustard. Sarah sat up, stung into renovated life, and so far
recovered as to marry; 'and I myself,' says Mr. Jones, 'christened
four or five of her children in the course of the next few years.' "
OFFICIALLY DEAD. 121
NARROW ESCAPES IN SMALL-POX.
I remember an incident under this head I was able to
verify, which caused some sensation at the time, occur-
ring during the Gloucester small-pox epidemic, in the
early part of 1896. A child, believed to be dead of con-
fluent small-pox, was removed from one of the small-
pox hospital wards to the mortuary, and next day an
attendant passing by heard a child crying, and gave
warning to one of the nurses. The little one was
promptly carried back to the ward, and recovered.
The Lancet of June 21, 1884, p. 1150, publishes the
following particulars from a London clergyman : —
" I send you privately names and addresses, by means of which
you can test, if you please, the accuracy of the following statements,
which I forward for insertion in your journal : —
"Some years since, a young man who had been attacked by
small-pox was declared by the medical man to be dead, and was
laid out for burial. The nurse, however, on paying a visit to the
supposed corpse, thinking there was something uncorpse-like about
its appearance, put a wine-glass over the mouth, and returning in a
quarter of an hour found it dimmed with breath. He was resusci-
tated, and, so far as I am aware, is still living. He would now be
about forty-five. He is a farmer.
"A mother and her baby were ill of small-pox, and seemed
likely to die. The grandmother, however, made the nurse promise
that if death appeared to ensue, and even if the medical man
pronounced either or both to be dead, she would put additional
blankets on the one or both, and leave them so till her (the grand-
mother's) return, which would not be till the next day. They both
appeared to die, and were declared dead by the doctor ; but the
nurse did as she had promised, and the next day, when the grand-
mother returned, they were both alive, and were both living not
very long since.
9
122 NARROW ESCAPES.
"Some twenty years ago, I was told that about forty years
previously a young man, in a parish where I was acquainted, was
put in a coffin as a person dead of small-pox ; but when the bell
was tolling for his funeral, and he was about to be 'screwed down,'
he got up and vacated the coffin, and lived several years after-
wards.
"The haste with which small-pox corpses are disposed of now-a-
days is to be deprecated. The only sure proof of death is decom-
position, and a law ought to be passed forbidding burial until signs
of it have appeared. Not very long since I was in a churchyard
where a drain was being made round the church, and was not a
little struck with the horrified look of a labourer who came to the
vicar and stated that they had come on a skull face downward,
which, he said, put it beyond doubt that the person it had belonged
to had turned in his coffin after burial."
CONSUMPTION AND EPILEPSY.
The Lancet for July 23, 1888, cites the following
remarkable case : —
" The following details are given by the Cincinnati correspondent
of the New York Herald from Memphis, Tennessee : — Mrs. Dicie
Webb keeps a grocery store on Beale Street, and is well known
to hundreds. Two years ago John Webb, a son of Mrs. Webb,
married Sarah Kelly, a pretty girl, to whom the mother-in-law
became greatly attached. Before one year of their married life
had passed, Mrs. Webb, jun., was stricken with consumption,
and on several occasions came near dying. About a month ago
the young woman became very anxious to visit her parents in
Henderson County, and she was taken there. At first she appeared
much improved, and hopes were felt that her life might be pre-
served through the summer, but two weeks ago last Tuesday a
telegram announced her death, and the husband hurried to her
parents' home. Three days later he returned with the corpse.
The mother-in-law pleaded so hard for a sight of the dead woman
that finally, despite the belief that the body was badly decomposed,
it was decided to open the coffin. While looking at the placid face,
IN CONSUMPTION AND EPILEPSY. 123
Mrs. Webb was terrified at beholding the eyelids of the dead
woman slowly opening. The eyes did not have the stony stare of
death, nor the intelligent gleam of life. Mrs. Webb was unable to
utter a sound. She could not move, but stood gazing at the grue-
some sight. Her horror was increased when the supposed corpse
slowly sat upright, and, in an almost inaudible voice, said, 'Oh,
where am I?' At this the weeping woman screamed. Friends
who rushed into the room were almost paralysed at the sight, and
fled shrieking. But one bolder than the others returned and spoke
to the woman, who asked to be laid on the bed. Hastily she was
taken from the coffin and cared for. In the course of the day the
resurrected woman fully regained her mental powers. The day
following she related a wonderful story. She said she was
cognisant of all that occurred, and did not lose consciousness
until she was put aboard the train for Memphis. Soon after being
placed in her mother-in-law's house she came to her senses and
knew all that was passing. While her mother-in-law was looking
at her she made a supreme effort to speak. Mrs. Webb lived a
number of days, when she again apparently died. The doctors
pronounced her dead, and she was once more placed in the coffin.
While the mother-in-law was taking her final farewell she heard a
voice whisper, ' Mother, don't cry.' Looking into the girl's face,
she saw the same look that she had noticed before. She called for
help, and several women responded. Some one cried, ' Shake her ;
she's not dead.' In the excitement of the moment, the women, it
is thought, shook the life out of the poor consumptive, and last
Saturday she was buried. The family and friends have endeavoured
to keep the matter quiet."
From the Echo, London, May 13, 1893.
" A woman at Limoges has just had a narrow escape of being
buried alive here. She was subject to epileptic fits, and during
one of these a few days ago was pronounced to be dead. The
arrangements for interment were made in due course, and as
the coffin was being borne into the church some of the mourners
said they heard a knocking inside. The party listened, and
distinct taps were heard. No time was lost in wrenching off
124 NARROW ESCAPES.
the lid of the coffin. It was then found that the woman was
alive and conscious, although terribly frightened at the awful
ordeal through which she had passed. A doctor was quickly
in attendance, and under his direction the supposed corpse
was removed from the coffin and placed on a litter for con-
veyance home again."
A STRANGE BIT OF PERSONAL HISTORY.
Dr. R. G. S. Chew, of Calcutta, writing to the
author, says: — "In 1873 I was a student in the
Bishop's High School, Poonah (Bombay Presidency),
where I used to be generally at the head of my
class, and when competing for the Science Prizes I
was fully determined to take the first prize or none.
The Reverend Mr. Watson, Rector of St. Mary's
Church and Chaplain to our school, knew my dis-
position, and cautioned me against being too sanguine,
lest disappointment might tell very keenly. The disap-
pointment came, and with it much nervous excitability.
Shortly after this (Christmas, 1873) my favourite sister
was seized with convulsions that carried her off. From
the moment of her decease to nearly a month after her
interment I entirely lost the power of speech. On the
day of the funeral I was parched with thirst, but could
not drink, as the water seemed to choke me. My eyes
were burning and my head felt like bursting, but I
could neither sob nor cry. I felt quite dazed, and
followed the procession to the cemetery, where I stood
motionless by the open grave ; but as soon as they
lowered the little coffin into its resting-place I threw
myself headlong into the grave and fainted away.
Some one pulled me out and carried me home, where I
A STRANGE BIT OF PERSONAL HISTORY. 125
lay in a sort of stupor for nine days, during which Dr.
Donaldson attended me most patiently, and I regained
consciousness, but was too weak to even sit up in bed.
On the 1 6th January, 1874, I felt a peculiar sensation as
of something filling up my throat — no swelling, no pain
nor anything that pointed to throat affection — and
this getting worse and worse, in spite of everything,
1 died, as was supposed, on the i8th of January, 1874,
and was laid out for burial, as the most careful examina-
tion failed to show the slightest traces of life. I had
been in this state for twenty hours, and in another three
hours would have been closed up for ever, when my
eldest sister, who was leaning over the head of my coffin
crying over me, declared she saw my lips move. The
friends who had come to take their last look at me
tried to persuade her it was only fancy, but as she per-
sisted, Dr. Donaldson was sent for to convince her that
I was really dead. For some unexplained reason, he
had me taken out of the coffin and examined very
carefully from head to foot. Noticing a peculiar, soft,
fluctuating swelling at the base of my neck, just where
the clavicles meet the sternum, he went to his brougham,
came back with his case of instruments, and, before any
one could stop him or ask what he was going to do,
laid open the tumour and plunged in a tracheotomy
tube, when a quantity of pus escaped, and, releasing the
pressure on the carotids and thyroid, was followed by a
rush of blood and some movement on my part that
startled the doctor. Restoratives were used, and I was
slowly nursed back to life ; but the tracheotomy tube
(I still carry the scar) was not finally removed till
September, 1875."
I 26 NARROW ESCAPES.
WHY SHE WAS HAUNTED.
A lady, distinguished alike for her literary gifts as
well as for her philanthropy, sends me the following : —
" I am much obliged to you for sending me ' Perils/
It is a terrible subject, and one that has haunted me all
my life, insomuch that I have never made a will without
inserting a clause requiring my throat to be cut before
I am put underground. Of course, one can have no
reliance on doctors whatever, and I have myself known
a case in which a very eminent one insisted on a coffin
being screwed down because the corpse looked so life-
like and full of colour that the friends could not help
indulging in hopes.
" My great-grandmother, after whom I am called, a
famous heiress, was a notable case of narrow escape. As
a girl she passed into a state of apparent death, and a
great funeral was ordered for her. Among the guests
came a young girl friend, who insisted that she was not
dead, and raised such a stir that the funeral was post-
poned, and time was allowed to pass till the marvel
became that there were no signs of change. I could
never ascertain how long this comatose state lasted before
she recovered ; but she did recover, so thoroughly that
after her marriage with Richard Trench, of Garbuly, she
became the mother of twenty-two children. Obviously
this was no case of a feeble, hysterical, cataleptic subject.
I will enclose photograph taken from a miniature of her
in a ring in my possession.
"There was another case, well known in Ireland in
my youth, of a Colonel Howard, who had a fine place
(I think it was called Castle Howard) in Wicklow. He
was supposed to be dead, and a lead coffin was actually
A SALUTARY WARNING. I2/
made with his name and date of death on it; after which
Colonel Howard came to life, and had the plate of the
coffin fixed over his kitchen chimney as a warning to
his servants not to bury people in a hurry."
STARTLING RESURRECTIONS.
From the London Echo, March 3, 1896.
"A letter from Constantinople, in the Politische Korrespondenz,
gives a remarkable case of an apparent death which would have
ended in a premature burial but for the high ecclesiastical position
of the person concerned. On the 3rd of this month, Nicephorus
Glycas, the Greek-Orthodox Metropolitan of Lesbos, an old man
in his eightieth year, after several days of confinement to his bed,
was reported by the physician to be dead. The supposed dead
bishop, in accordance with the rules of the Orthodox Church, was
immediately clothed in his episcopal vestments, and placed upon
the Metropolitan's throne in the great church of Methymni, where
the body was exposed to the devout faithful during the day, and
watched by relays of priests day and night. Crowds streamed
into the church to take a last look at their venerable chief pastor.
On the second night of "the exposition of the corpse," the Metro-
politan suddenly started up from his seat and stared round him
with amazement and horror at all the panoply of death amidst
which he had been seated. The priests were not less horrified
when the 'dead' bishop demanded what they were doing with
him. The old man had simply fallen into a death-like lethargy,
which the incompetent doctors had hastily concluded to be death.
He is now as hale and hearty as can well be expected from an
octogenarian. But here it is that the moral comes in. If
Nicephorus Glycas had been a layman he would most certainly
have been buried alive. Fortunately for him, the Canon Law of
the Orthodox Church does not allow a bishop to be buried earlier
than the third day after his death ; whereas a layman, according
to the ancient Eastern custom, is generally buried about twelve
hours after death has been certified. The excitement which has
been aroused by the prelate's startling resurrection may tend to
128 NARROW ESCAPES.
set men thinking more seriously about the frequent probability of
the cruel horror of the interment of living persons."
The above-mentioned facts have been authenticated
for the author by Dr. Franz Hartmann, of Hallein,
Austria.
Speaking on the subject of premature burial the other
day, a well-known London publisher told the author that
he personally knew a lady, the daughter of a British
Consul, who had been taken for dead on two separate
occasions. On the first occasion the lady had been
placed in her coffin, and the lid screwed down ready for
interment. A friend who had known the supposed
deceased called to condole with the family, and said —
" I should like to have a last look at dear L , if you
will only permit me." The lid was accordingly removed,
and the visitor detected, as it seemed to her, signs of life
in her friend ; she was taken out of her coffin, put in a
warm bath, and recovered. Some years later the same
lady fell into a cataleptic state after a fever, and was taken
for dead. Preparations had been made for the funeral
in both instances, but delayed beyond the usual time for
interment. She returned to consciousness, and is now
living.
Equally remarkable is a case quoted by the British
Medical Journal, March 12, 1892, p. 577.
"The Temps publishes a case of premature burial prevented by
the daughter of the supposed dead man, who, on kissing her father,
perceived that his body was not cold. The funeral cortege was
on the point of starting. Suitable measures restored the man to
consciousness, and he opened his eyes and uttered one or two
words. His condition is serious, but he is alive. This incident
occurred at Vagueray, near Lyons."
AT THE LAST MOMENT. 129
STRANGE AND VARIED EXPERIENCES.
The Daily Telegraph, January 26, 1889, reports : —
"A Rochester correspondent telegraphs that a woman named
Girvin, living at Burham, near Rochester, has just had a narrow
escape of being buried alive. She fell into a kind of trance, which
was mistaken for death. The coffin was ordered, and the usual
preparations made for a funeral. But while a number of the
relatives were gathered at the bedside bewailing their bereave-
ment, the supposed corpse startled them by suddenly rising up in
bed and asking what was the matter. The woman is making
good progress towards convalescence."
And on July 6, 1889, the same journal says : —
" Our St. Leonards correspondent telegraphs : — About a week
ago the wife of a well-known tradesman in St. Leonards fell ill,
and on Monday night last the doctor gave his -opinion that she
could not live through the next day. On Tuesday morning at ten
o'clock the doctor pronounced his patient dead, the nurse who was
in attendance confirming the opinion. The intimation of death
naturally created great distress among the friends of the woman,
who was laid out in grave-clothes, washed, and prepared for burial,
and, being a Roman Catholic, a crucifix was placed in her hand as
she lay on her bier. When it was announced that the woman was
dying, a priest was sent for ; but he could not attend, as he was
out of the town at the time.
" About a quarter to ten on Tuesday night the nurse entered the
room without a light for the. purpose of getting something which
she knew where to find. Whilst in the darkened chamber she was
startled to hear a slight cry proceeding from the bed where the
body lay, and she rushed from the room in a terrible fright. The
widower, hearing the scream of fright, rushed into the chamber
with a light, and was astounded to find that his wife had raised
herself up in the bed on her elbow. She faintly uttered the words,
* Where am I?' and again relapsed into a heavy sleep. The
opportunity was seized of changing the shroud for proper habili-
ments, and in about an hour and a half she woke again perfectly
conscious. Next morning she was told of what had occurred, but
I3O NARROW ESCAPES.
was quite ignorant of everything that had passed, thinking she had
only had a long sleep. She is now doing well, and it is hoped she
will soon be restored to health and strength. The doctor describes
the case as the most remarkable he has ever met with in his
experience."
The Echo, January 1895, tells, the story of a woman's
awful experience : —
"An extraordinary affair is reported from Heap Bridge, Hey-
wood. Yesterday a woman was supposed to have died, and she
was washed, laid out, and measured for her coffin, a piece of linen
being placed over her mouth. Eight hours later, however, as two
women were engaged in the room, the supposed corpse blew the
linen away, and raised herself up in bed. The two women were
terribly frightened, and in their hasty retreat both tumbled down-
stairs, and are now suffering from slight injuries, as well as shock.
Some time elapsed before any one else could be induced to enter
the house, but eventually several persons went in together, and
found the woman still sitting up in bed. She was exceedingly
weak. Later, however, she succumbed, and the doctor expressed
the opinion that her death was accelerated by shock. During the
night the woman conversed with her son, who had carried her
upstairs for dead, and told him of the awful sensation she felt whilst
unable to speak during the washing and laying out of her body."
The Daily Telegraph, London, December 12, 1893,
mentions the following weird occurrence : —
u Berlin, December 11.
" From Militsch, in Silesia, an extraordinary case of trance is
reported. It seems that, owing to the grave not being in readiness,
some delay occurred in the burial of a lady (the wife of a major in
the army) who to all appearance had died. On the fourth day
after the lady's supposed death the maid was placing fresh flowers
round the coffin, when she was much startled at seeing the body
move, and finally assume an erect position. The lady had evi-
dently been in a state of coma during the past four days, and
narrowly escaped being buried alive."
COFFINED AND READY FOR BURIAL. 13!
GRUESOME DETAILS.
How near a person may be to a terrible and ghastly
death-struggle for a brief period, in which a lifetime
seems concentrated amid the hopelessness and helpless-
ness of despair, can, to some extent, be measured by the
records of the apparently fateful accidents which have,
at the last moment, saved the sufferers from their awful
doom.
A medical correspondent writes to Cassell's Magazine,
September 20, 1896, as follows : —
" I once witnessed a curious case of rescue from premature
burial. The patient was a young woman of nervous temperament,
who was greatly affected by the death of her brother. On the day
of the funeral, while standing by the coffin, she suddenly fell as
one dead. Several physicians present declared she had died from
heart-failure. When called, I insisted that the young woman was
alive. Applying the stethoscope to her heart, I ultimately observed
a slight indication of life. Equally slight indications were
apparent at various nerve-centres. After two days' treatment the
young woman spoke. She described all that had occurred around
her, even her sensations as the doctors were debating as to the
reality of her death. But she could not contrive to indicate the
terror she felt at the thought of the terrible fate which awaited her
should her condition remain undiscovered."
Again The Morning Leader, December 9 1901,
reports a telegram thus : —
" Lisbon, Sunday.
" Donna Maria Gavazzo has had a marvellous escape from being
buried alive, under circumstances which are to say the least
mysterious.
" It was announced that she was dead, and the interment was to
have taken place to-day. At the cemetery the last funeral rites
were being performed over the bier, when the officiating priest
believed he heard a sigh proceeding from the coffin.
132 NARROW ESCAPES.
"At his direction the coffin was at once opened, when it was
found that Donna Maria was alive.
"A further inquiry into the details of the case will certainly be
necessitated."
The Westminster Gazette, March 16, 1901, states: —
"A narrow escape from being buried alive is reported from
Tulle. A girl, who had been ill for some time, fell into a state of
coma. On Sunday night respiration ceased, the body became
cold, and she was, to all appearance, dead. She was accordingly
laid out in her best clothes, and her grave and coffin were ordered,
when, to the terror of her relatives, the supposed corpse began to
move, and a few minutes later sat up. She had a fit when she was
told it was thought she was dead. It is now expected she will
recover. — Dalziel"
Mr. Thomas W. Wright, of Avenue House, Holly
Park, Crouch Hill, N., writes as follows, May 2, 1901 : —
" I know of two or three cases, one of a woman who has now
reached a great age, who, when she was about thirty years old, was
about to be 'screwed down' in her coffin, but fortunately moved in
time to prevent the undertakers from completing their work. I
don't know much about the question, but it seems to me that
medical men are much to blame when they sign certificates of
death without taking the trouble to see whether their patient is
dead ; a serious fine or imprisonment in cases of such negligence
might perhaps check the custom."
These are sentiments with which every thinking person
will cordially agree.
CHAPTER VI.
FORMALITIES AND THEIR FATAL
CONSEQUENCES.
WHENEVER graveyards have been removed, owing to
the rapid expansion of towns, in America, or examined
elsewhere, unmistakable evidences of premature burial
have been disclosed, as will be seen in this volume ;
bodies have been found turned upon their faces, the
limbs contorted, with hair dishevelled, the clothing torn,
the flesh mutilated, and coffins broken by the inmates
in their mad endeavour to escape after returning con-
sciousness, to terminate life only in unspeakable mental
and physical agonies. It may be said that every grave-
yard has its traditions, but the facts are carefully con-
cealed lest they should reach the ears of the relatives, or
incriminate the doctors who had with such confidence
certified to actual deaths which were only apparent. It
is not, however, the custom to remove graveyards in
Europe until all possibility of such discoveries has dis-
appeared. To reopen a grave is to break the seal of
domestic grief. There is a widespread belief that where
a coffin, with a duly certified corpse — dead or alive — has
been screwed up, it must not be opened without an
authorization from a magistrate, mayor, or other official,
and many people have been suffocated in their coffins
while waiting for this formality. Common sense, under
the circumstances, seems to be often paralysed.
1 34 FORMALITIES.
ACCORDING TO ENGLISH LAW.
In England it has been decided, Reg. v. Sharpe
(i Dearsley and Bell, 160), to be a misdemeanour to
disinter a body without lawful authority, even where the
motive of the offender was pious and laudable ; and a too
rigorous interpretation of this and similar enactments
in other countries has led to the suffocation of many
unfortunate victims of a mistaken medical diagnosis,
whose lives, by prompt interposition, might have been
saved.
THEY WAITED FOR THE KEY.
Koppen, in his work, entitled " Information Relative
to Persons who have been Buried Alive," Halle, 1799,
dedicated to His Majesty the King of Prussia, Frederick
William III., quotes the following amongst a large
number of cases of premature burial : — " In D , the
Baroness F— - died of small-pox. She was kept in
her house three days, and then put in the family vault.
After a time, a noise of knocking was heard in the vault,
and the voice of the Baroness was also heard. The
authorities were informed ; and instead of opening the
door with an axe, as could have been done, the key was
sent for, which took three or four hours before the
messenger returned with it. On opening the vault it
was found that the lady was lying on her side, with
evidences of having suffered terrible agony."
THEY ALL WAITED FOR ONE ANOTHER.
Struve, in his essay on " Suspended Animation," 1803,
p. 71, relates the following: — "A beggar arrived late at
night, and almost frozen to death, at a German village,
WAITING FOR ONE ANOTHER. 135
and observing a schoolhouse open, resolved to sleep
there. The next morning the schoolboys found the
poor man sitting motionless in the room, and hastened,
affrighted, to inform the schoolmaster of what they had
seen. The villagers, supposing the beggar to be dead,
interred him in the evening. During the night the
watchman heard a knocking in the grave, accompanied
by lamentations. He gave information to the bailiff of
the village, who declined to listen to his tale. Soon
afterwards the watchman returned to the grave, and
again heard a hollow noise, interrupted by sighs. He
once more hastened to the magistrate, earnestly solicit-
ing him to cause the grave to be opened ; but the latter,
being irresolute, delayed this measure till the next
morning, when he applied to the sheriff, who lived at a
distance from the village, in order to obtain the necessary
directions. He was, however, obliged to wait some
time before an interview took place. The more judicious
sheriff severely censured the magistrate for not having
opened the grave on the information from the watchman,
and desired him to return and cause it to be opened
without delay. On his arrival, the grave was immedi-
ately opened ; but, just Heaven ! what a sight ! The
poor, wretched man, after having recovered in the grave,
had expired for want of air. In his anguish and despera-
tion he had torn the flesh from his arms. All the
spectators were struck with horror at this dreadful
scene."
THEY WAITED FOR THE DOCTOR.
An authentic case, on which Devergie has made an
elaborate report ("Ann. d'Hyg.," 1870, 2, 310) occurred
near Morlaix, in France. " A woman died, as it was
136 FORMALITIES.
supposed, from cholera. She was seen while ill by a
medical man, but not after the supposed death. She
was placed in a coffin in an hour, and buried in sixteen
hours. During the interment a noise was heard in the
coffin. Time was lost in sending for a medical man, and
the coffin was not opened until he arrived. The shroud
was found twisted and folded about the neck and feet,
as if struggles had been made, and there was a quantity
of liquid on it, which had issued from the mouth and
nostrils during efforts made to breathe. The body was
warm, and the pulsations of the heart had not completely
ceased, but it was too late, every effort at resuscitation
failed."
THEY WAITED FOR THE HOME SECRETARY.
The Undertakers' Journal, November 22, 1880, relates
the following : — " An extraordinary story is reported
from Tredegar, South Wales. A man was buried at
Cefn Golan Cemetery, and it is alleged that some of
those who took part in carrying the body to the burial-
ground heard knocking inside the coffin. No notice was
taken of the affair at the time, but it has now come up
again, and the rumour has caused a painful sensation
throughout the district. It is stated that application
has been made to the Home Secretary for permission
to exhume the body."
THEY WAITED FOR THE PRIEST,
Dr. Franz Hartmann, in his " Premature Burial," pp.
10 and 44, relates the two following cases : — " In the
year 1856 a man died in an Hungarian village. It is
customary there to dig the graves in rows. As the
THEY WAITED FOR THE PRIEST. 137
gravedigger was making the new grave he heard sounds
as of knocking proceeding from a grave where a man
had been buried a few days previously. Terrified, he
went to the priest, and with the priest to the police.
At last permission was granted to open the grave ; but
by that time its occupant had died in reality. The fact
that he had been buried alive was made evident by the
condition of the body, and by the wounds which the
man had inflicted upon himself by biting his shoulders
and arms.
"THEY WAITED FOR THE POLICE.
" In a small town in Prussia, an undertaker, living
within the limits of the cemetery, heard during the
night cries proceeding from within a grave in which
a person had been buried on the previous day. Not
daring to interfere without permission, he went to the
police and reported the matter. When, after a great
deal of delay, the required formalities were fulfilled and
permission granted to open the grave, it was found that
the man had been buried alive, but that he was now
dead. His body, which had been cold at the time of
the funeral, was now warm and bleeding from many
wounds, where he had skinned his hands and head in
his struggles to free himself before suffocation made an
end to his misery."
THEY WAITED FIVE HOURS FOR AN ORDER.
A medical correspondent communicates to the author
particulars of the following case, which occurred at Salz-
burg, Austria : — " Some children were playing in the
Luzergasse Cemetery, and their attention was attracted
10
138 FORMALITIES.
by knocking sounds in a newly-made grave. They
informed the gravedigger of it, and he secured permis-
sion to open the grave from whence the sounds seemed
to come. A man had been buried there at two p.m.
that day. The formalities of the permission to open the
grave delayed it till seven p.m., when, on opening the
coffin, the body was found to be bent completely over
forwards, and was frightfully distorted and bleeding from
places on the hands and arms, which seemed to have
been gnawed by the man's own teeth. The medical
experts who were called in to examine the case declared
that the man had been buried alive."
THEY WAITED FOR THE MAYOR.
From the Undertakers 'and Funeral Directors' Journal,
January 22, 1887: — "Another shocking case of prema-
ture burial is reported ; the distressing incident took
place at Saumur, in France. A young man suddenly
died, at least to all appearance, and his burial was
ordered to take place as soon as possible. The croque-
morts, or undertaker's men, who carried the coffin to the
grave, thought they heard a noise like knocking under
its lid, yet, being afraid of creating a panic among the
people who attended the funeral, they went on with
their burden. The coffin was duly placed in the grave,
but, as the earth was being thrown upon it, unmistakable
sounds of knocking was heard by everybody. The
mayor, however, had to be sent for before the coffin
could be opened, and some delay occurred in the arrival
of that official. When the lid was removed, the horrible
discovery was made that the unfortunate inmate had
only just died from asphyxia. The conviction is
THEY WAITED FOR THE MAYOR. 139
spreading that the terrible French law requiring speedy
interment ought to be modified without delay."
THEY WAITED FOR THE MAGISTRATE.
Mr. William Harbutt, School of Art, Bath, writes to
me, November 27, 1895 : — "The copies of the pamphlet
* The Perils of Premature Burial,' by Professor Alex.
Wilder, you kindly sent me are in circulation. Almost
every one to whom I mention the subject knows some
instances. One, a case at Radstock, twelve miles from
Bath, where the bearers at the funeral heard noises
inside the coffin, but were afraid to open it without the
authority from a magistrate. When it was opened next
day the appearance of the body showed that he had
been coffined alive, and had had a terrible struggle to
escape."
THEY WAITED FOR THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES.
From the Star, London, May 13, 1895 : — "A woman
who was believed to have died the day before was be-
ing buried at Doussard, when the gravedigger, who was
engaged in filling up the grave, distinctly heard knock-
ing coming from the coffin. He called a man who was
working near, and he came and listened, and heard the
knocking also. It was then about nine o'clock in the
morning. The knocking continued, and they listened
for about half an hour, when it occurred to one of them
that they ought to do something, so they went to inform
the local authorities. The cur^ of the village was the first
to arrive on the scene ; but as no one had any authority
to exhume the body the coffin was not taken up. All
that was done was to bore some holes in the lid with a
140 FORMALITIES.
drill in such a way as to admit of air. By mid-day all
the necessary formalities had been gone through, and it
was decided at last to open the coffin. This was done ;
but whether the unfortunate woman was still alive at
this time is doubtful. Some of those present affirm that
she was. They state that they saw a little colour come
into her cheeks, and the eyes open and shut. One thing
is certain — viz. : that when at half-past six in the evening
it was finally decided to consult a doctor, the practitioner
summoned declared that death had taken place not
more than five or six hours before. It was thought that
had the coffin been opened directly the sounds were
heard the woman's life might have been saved, and she
would have been spared hours of indescribable torture
and suffering."
THEY WAITED — BUT WERE PROMPT.
The Paris edition of the New York Herald, May 14,
1895, says: — "The case of the woman buried alive at
Annecy, in the Haute-Savoie, the other day, has almost
found a pendant at Limoges. A woman, belonging to
the village of Laterie, died, to all appearance at least, a
few days ago. After the body had been placed in a
coffin, it was transported to the village church. On the
way the bearers heard sounds proceeding from it, and at
once sent for the mayor, who ordered it to be opened.
The woman was found to be suffering from eclampsia,
which had been mistaken for death by her relatives."
When will people learn to exercise common sense,
and remember that life is more valuable than red tape,
and the spirit of human pity and practical sympathy of
greater moment than the lettter of English law?
CHAPTER VII.
PREMATURE BURIAL OF DOUBTFUL
CASES.
THERE is a great and natural reluctance on the part of
medical practitioners to admit that they have made
mistakes in death-certification, particularly in any one
of the various forms of death counterfeits, or suspended
animation. It should be noted that amongst the lectures
delivered on special occasions, such as the opening of the
medical schools, the subjects of trance and the danger of
premature burial are conspicuous by their absence ;
allusion to these subjects is of rare occurrence, nor does
the study of this abstruse branch of medicine, so far as
can be ascertained, form part of any medical curriculum.
In the bibliography at the end of this volume, extensive
as it is, I can hardly refer to a single instance. Dr. Franz
Hartmann, whose work on " Buried Alive " has passed
through two English and one German editions, informs
me that the same reticence is observable in the medical
schools of Germany.
Many medical men do not believe in death-trance.
They declare that they have never seen such a case, and
in their judgment, when a sick patient ceases to breathe,
when volition is suspended, and the stethoscope reveals
no signs of cardiac action, the death is real, and the case
beyond recovery. But the reader will already have
gathered, from the results of inquiry in many countries
142 DOUBTFUL CASES.
disclosed in the foregoing pages, that such evidence is
not in itself sufficient to justify the risk of possible
live sepulture. There should be no sign, nor any collec-
tion of signs, deemed of sufficient weight, apart from the
process of decomposition.
WAS SHE DEAD?
As an instance of the justifiable uneasiness caused by
the neglect of this simple precaution, we quote from the
Medical Times, London, 1860, vol. i., p. 65.
"A lady entering upon the ninth month of pregnancy died of
pneumonia. All the other phenomena of death ensued, except
that the colour of the face was unusually life-like. On the fifteenth
day from that of death there was not the least cadaveric odour
from the corpse, nor had its appearance much altered, and it was
only on the sixteenth clay that the lips darkened. The temperature
of the atmosphere had undergone many changes during the time
mentioned, but although there had been frost for a short period,
the weather was in general damp and cold."
This lady may have been dead, but — she may not.
What we maintain is, that the burial laws should have
been such as to make it certain that she was dead before
interment, by the appearance of general decomposition.
And it must be obvious to the least reflective reader
that in countries where burial follows quickly upon
supposed death (as in Turkey, France, and Italy, some
parts of Ireland, and throughout India), or where there
is no compulsory examination of the dead (as in the
United States or the United Kingdom), and amongst
people like the Jews (since Jewish custom enjoins speedy
interment), and especially in cases of sudden death
(where attempts at resuscitation are rare), the number
of premature burials may be considerable.
POSSIBILITY OF MISTAKE. 143
DEATH'S COUNTERFEIT.
We are not oblivious of the fact that a body may
present the most life-like appearance for a considerable
period — in one case on record as long as twenty-eight
days — in spite of the presence of the usual signs of death.
Taylor, in his standard work, " The Principles and
Practice of Medical Jurisprudence," cites a case in point,
well authenticated, in which, on the eighteenth day
after every sign of respiration and circulation had ceased,
the lips presented their usual red colour, and, although
the body was in a warm room, there was no disagreeable
odour and no cadaveric ecchymosis, neither was the slow
cooling nor progressive rigidity observed. The reality
of death, by the signs of putrefaction, did not become
apparent until the twentieth day. The author, com-
menting upon this case, says : — " Had this patient fallen
into the hands of ignorant nurses or attendants, instead
of professional men, it is probable that the body might
have been consigned to the grave in two or three days.
Although, as the event subsequently proved, this would
not have furnished another instance of the premature
interment of a living person, yet the proper cours6 in all
doubtful cases is to wait until that doubt has been
satisfactorily resolved by the appearance of the obvious
signs of decomposition."
AMERICA'S UGLY REGULATION.
In the United States, while there is no law, as in
France, enforcing burial within a prescribed number
of days, it is the custom of civil authorities, under
144 DOUBTFUL CASES.
regulations made by the Boards of Health, to compel
interments, if delayed beyond a few days.
Particulars of the following case were sent me by a
physician, January 17, 1894: —
" Mrs. John Emmons, of North Judson, Ind., was taken suddenly
ill, and apparently died, a week ago. Her husband desired to keep
the body for a few days, to make sure of death. It seems that her
mother went into a trance for four days, rallied, and lived five
years ; also that her grandfather on her mother's side, after having
been pronounced dead for six days, awoke, and lived for twenty-
three years. Mrs. Emmons's body was kept until Saturday, when,
on the demand of the physician and numerous residents, it was
interred. During the time between Monday and Saturday the
body did not become rigid. Mortification did not set in, and she
was laid to rest without waiting for that, the surest of all tests, to
take place. Many are of the opinion that the woman has been
buried alive."
There are many cases like the above on record, in
which, although there is no absolute proof of premature
burial, there is strong presumptive evidence of it.
A LONDON ILLUSTRATION.
The following appeared in Truth (London), on
May 23, 1895 ; it forms but an example of many similar
instances of which the writer has heard : —
"The other day I gave a story showing the difficulty of obtaining
a post-mortem examination after a doctor has once certified the
cause of death. One of my readers caps it with a gruesome
narrative of which this is the outline : A man lately died in
London. The coffin had to be removed by rail, and was to be
closed on the fourth day after the death. My informant, taking a
last look at the deceased, was struck by the complete absence of
all the ordinary signs of death at such a period. In particular, he
states that there was no rigidity in any part of the body, and there
A LONDON ILLUSTRATION. H5
was a perceptible tinge of colour in the forehead. He went over
to the doctor who had attended the deceased, described all the
signs that he had observed, and begged him to come and look
at the body before the coffin was closed. The doctor absolutely
refused, saying that he had given his certificate, and had no
doubt as to the man's death. The friend then suggested that he
might himself open a vein and see if blood flowed, to which the
doctor replied that, if he did so without the authority of the widow,
he would be indictable for felony. 'Whereupon,' says my informant,
who was only a friend of the family, ' I had to retire baffled, and
let matters take their course.' Why on earth he did not take the
widow into his confidence, or risk an indictment for felony by
opening a vein on his own account, or even summon another
doctor, he does not say. I trust that, should any friend of mine
see my coffin about to be screwed down under similar circum-
stances, and find equal cause to doubt whether I am dead, he
will summon up courage to stick a pin into me, and chance the
consequences. This, however, has nothing to do with the doctor's
responsibilities. It would seem that the medico in this case was
either so confident in his own opinion as to decline even to
walk across the road to investigate the extraordinary symptoms
described to him, or else that he preferred the chance of the man
being buried alive to the chance of having to admit he had made
a mistake. Which alternative is the worst I do not know."
CAUTIQN IN FRANCE.
The Gaulois (Paris), of May 16, 1894, contains the
following, which manifests a laudable exception to the
legal custom of enforcing speedy interment : —
"The funeral of the Comtesse de Jarnac, whose death was
reported to have taken place on Saturday, was fixed for to-morrow,
but it will probably be postponed. None of the usual signs of
dissolution have appeared ; the face still retains its colour, and
rigor mortis has not yet set in. Some hope is even entertained
that the Comtesse may be simply in a state of catalepsy, and that
the embolus, to which death was attributed, may have lodged in
146 DOUBTFUL CASES.
the lungs, not in the heart, in which case it may merely have
caused a stoppage of the circulation (sic). The body had not been
placed in the coffin up to a late hour last night."
AN AUSTRIAN INCIDENT.
One of the authors was present on May 14, 1894,
with a company of ladies and gentlemen gathered at
a country mansion in the Austrian Tyrol for afternoon
tea, when the conversation turned upon the subject of
premature burial. Among other cases related, the host
described that of one of his servants, a woman, who
went to bed with toothache, a long scarf being wrapped
around her face and neck. As she did not appear the
following morning, our host entered her room, and
found her, as he supposed, strangled to death by the
scarf tightly wound about her neck. A doctor was
summoned, when he found that the woman was warm
and limp, her face soft and coloured as in life ; yet, as
there was no respiration or perceptible wrist-pulse, nor
beating of the heart, he regarded her as dead, and
thought it would be proper to bury her. The host had
doubts, however, about the case, and, having decided to
observe it further, he had the woman removed to an
outhouse, where she remained three days longer without
any change in her appearance or condition in any way.
But as there was considerable impatience felt at the
delay of the burial by the people on the estate, the host
sent for two doctors to make a final examination of the
woman, and decide as to the existence of life or death.
The doctors found that no change had taken place —
there was softness of the skin, colour in the face, limp-
ness of the muscles, and an unmistakable warmth of the
NECESSITY OF PATIENCE. 147
body ; but as there was an absence of apparent respir-
ation and beating of the heart, they decided that the
woman was dead, and urged her burial, which was done.
They attributed the high temperature to the process of
decomposition which they assumed was going on, though
there was no odour of putrefaction noticed by anyone.
The possibility is that this woman was buried alive.
And, in the present state of medical education on the
subject of apparent death and the causes that bring it
about, many physicians would have come to a like
conclusion ; but, as physicians generally know very little
about it, they are not on their guard concerning its
dangers.
A number of cases of apparent death that have
survived — where there was strangulation from a scarf*
as in this case — have been reported. The explanation
in such cases is, that the presssure of the scarf around
the neck keeps the venous blood from flowing down
from the brain through the jugular veins, and the brain,
in consequence, becomes saturated with carbonic acid gas
from the detained venous blood, and a death- like stupor,
caused by carbonic acid poisoning, ensues. Artificial
respiration should in all such cases be resorted to.
A POOR CONSOLATION.
A leading Wes.t End undertaker, whose letter is
before me, writes under date of June 26, 1896, as
follows : — " In my experience I have had but one case
come under my personal observation where I had real
uncertainty as to death being actually present, and that
was an instance of the kind in which this calamity is
148 DOUBTFUL CASES.
only likely, in my opinion, to occur. A girl who had
been to work in Berwick's factory apparently fainted
and died, and within a few days the friends buried her.
When we came to close the coffin, there was no evidence
of death, and we did not close it without having a doctor
sent for, and receiving his assurance that she was dead.
When reading the fatal cases which have come to light
upon this subject, I must confess to looking back upon
that instance with much fear, and it is but a poor con-
solation to me that the responsibility was not mine, but
the medical man's.
WHY THE SCEPTIC SCORES.
The foregoing cases are recorded because they are
types of a class that nearly every physician, undertaker,
clergyman, or other observer has met with or heard of,
and the probabilities, having regard to the existing con-
fusion and uncertainty of opinion on the signs of death,
are on the side of apparent rather than real death. On
the other hand, a medical correspondent informs the
author that he is sceptical as to the reported cases of
narrow escapes, as on more than one occasion his efforts
to verify the facts have proved abortive. It must be
admitted that there are difficulties in the way of such
inquiries. If the subject of trance, or narrow escape
from burial, is a lady, publicity injures her prospects of
marriage ; and if a young man, his reputation for busi-
ness stability is endangered or prejudiced ; so that this
reticence on the part of relatives is hardly surprising.
Such persons do not like their gruesome and unpleasant
experiences to be talked about.
CHAPTER VIII.
PREDISPOSING CAUSES AND CONDITIONS
OF DEATH-COUNTERFEITS.
THOSE who are most subject to the various forms of
death-counterfeit are persons whose vocations exhaust
the nervous force faster than the natural powers of
recuperation, or who resort to narcotics and stimulants
to counteract the physical depression consequent upon
nervous exhaustion. Then there is the hysterical
class — principally females, who take but little nourish-
ment, and who allow their imaginations to run riot upon
every gloomy subject which arrests them, until the ner-
vous system becomes prostrate, and they fall into
a state of lethargy. Those given to fainting, again,
or those in whom the heart has practically failed from
shock or loss of blood — as in recorded cases of
soldiers dying upon the battle-field from wounds, and
who have been brought back to life as long as twelve
days afterwards. Plague, cholera, typhoid have been
fruitful sources of such partial inhibition of the heart's
action, and many are the gruesome narratives of burials
of persons in a state of coma arising from such causes.
One shudders to contemplate the possibilities and
probabilities connected with the hasty burials during
epidemics of the early part of last and the previous
century, especially in cases where many bodies were
hurried into a common grave.
150 PREDISPOSING CAUSES.
MEDICAL EXPERIENCE.
In an address delivered by Dr. Alexander Wilder, as
president, before a State medical society in the Hall of
the House of Assembly in the State of New York, at
Albany, he said : —
" We exhaust our energies by overwork, by too much
excitement, overtaxing of the brain and nervous system,
insufficient resting from labour, the use of tobacco,
alcohol, and sedatives or anaesthetics, and by irregular
and improper habits, which hasten the Three Sisters in
cutting off the fatal thread. Apoplexy, palsy, epilepsy
are thus likely to prostrate us at any moment : and
catalepsy, to an extent of which few are aware, is not
far from any of us."
Equally, if not even more likely, to be overtaken by
these simulacra of death are the poor — the ill-fed, ill-
conditioned, and overworked classes.
With regard to the causation of catalepsy, Dr. W. R.
Cowers, in Quain's "Dictionary of Medicine," p. 216,
says : — " Nervous exhaustion is the common predis-
ponent ; and emotional disturbance, especially religious
excitement, or sudden alarm, and blows on the head and
back, are frequent immediate causes. It occasionally
occurs in the course of mental affections, especially in
melancholia, and as an early symptom of epilepsy."
FAINTING FITS.
Dr. James Curry, F.A.S., in his " Observations on
Apparent Death," pp. 81, 82, referring to those con-
ditions and diseases which predispose to death-
FAINTING FITS. 151
counterfeits, to which women are more liable than
men, says: — "The faintings which most require assist-
ance, and to which, therefore, I wish particularly to
direct the attention of my readers and the public, are
those that take place from loss of blood, violent and
long-continued fits of coughing, excessive vomiting or
purging, great fatigue or want of food, and likewise
after convulsions, and in the advanced stage of low
fevers. It is but seldom, however, that any attempt at
recovery is made in such cases ; and several reasons may
be assigned for this, particularly the great resemblance
that fainting fits of any duration bear to actual death, and
the firm belief of the bystanders that the circumstances
which preceded were sufficient to destroy life entirely."
The authpr continues, pp. 106, 107: — "Nervous and
highly hysterical females, who are subject to fainting
fits, are the most frequent subjects of this kind of
apparent death ; in which the person seems in a state
very nearly resembling that of hibernating animals, such
as the dormouse, bat, toad, frog, etc., which annually
become insensible, motionless, and apparently dead, on
the setting in of the winter's cold, but spontaneously
revive on the returning warmth of spring. Here, by
some peculiar and yet unknown circumstance, the vital
principle has its action suspended, but neither its exist-
ence destroyed, nor its organs injured, so as absolutely
to prevent recovery, if not too long neglected."
CASES IN POINT.
Dr. Franz Hartmann reports a case which occurred
within half a mile of his residence; near Hallein,
Austria : — " At Oberalm, near Hallein, there died the
152 PREDISPOSING CAUSES..
widow of a Dr. Ettenberger, a lawyer. It was known
that she had previously been affected with fits of cata-
lepsy, and therefore all possible means were taken for
the purpose of restoring her to life. All, however, were
in vain, and her death appeared to be certain. On the
third day, just before the hour appointed for the funeral,
the family physician, Dr. Leber, bethought himself of
trying some fresh experiments on the corpse, when the
woman revived. She had been fully conscious all the
time, and aware of all the preparations that were made
for her funeral, although unable to make it known to
others that she was still alive."
Dr. Hartmann says : — " In 1866, in Kronstadt, a
young and strong man, Orrendo by name, had a fit and
died. He was put into a coffin and deposited in the
family vault in a church. Fourteen years afterwards, in
1880, the same vault was opened again for the purpose
of admitting another corpse. A horrible sight met
those who entered. Orrendo's coffin was empty, and
his skeleton lying upon the floor. But the rest of the
coffins were also broken open and emptied of their
contents. It seemed to show that the man after
awakening had burst his coffin open, and, becoming
insane, had smashed the others, after which he had been
starved to death." — Premature Burial, p. 7.
Bouchut, in " Signes de la Mort," p. 40, relates that
" a lawyer at Vesoul was subject to fits of fainting, but
kept the matter secret, so that the knowledge of it
might not spread and interfere with his prospects of
marriage ; he only spoke confidentially of it to one of
his friends. The marriage took place, and he lived for
some time in good health, then suddenly fell into one
FITS OF FAINTING. 153
of his fits, and his wife and the doctors, believing him
dead, had him placed in a coffin, and got everything
ready for the funeral. His friend was absent, but fortu-
nately returned just in time to prevent the burial. The
lawyer recovered, and lived for sixteen years after this
event"
INTENSE COLD.
M. Charles Londe, in "La Mort Apparente," p. 16,
says : — " Intense cold, coincident with privations and
fatigue, will produce all the phenomena of apparent
death — phenomena susceptible of prolongation during
several days without producing actual death, and con-
sequently exposing the individual who could be restored
to life to living burial " ; and he further maintains it as
an indisputable fact that every day people are thus
interred alive.
Struve, in his essay on " Suspended Animation," p. 140,
says : — " In no case whatever is the danger of commit-
ting homicide greater than in the treatment of persons
who have suffered by severe cold. Their death-like
state may deceive our judgment, not only because such
persons continue longest apparently dead, but because
the want of susceptibility of irritation is in many cases
not distinguishable from real death. A man benumbed
with cold burnt his feet, and had continued insensible to
pain, nor did he feel this sensation till he warmed them
at a fire. In this case it is evident that the suscepti-
bility of irritation was destroyed, while vital power
remained."
A story is told of a grenadier belonging to the
Strassburg garrison, who was found frozen in the river
ii
154 PREDISPOSING CAUSES.
Ill ; he was taken to the hospital, warmth was applied,
and he survived. At Strassburg, according to Dr.
Brouardel, on another occasion, a hospital attendant was
found frozen, was resuscitated, and still continues his
duties, which he has now performed for many years.
INFLUENZA.
This is a malady that has been enormously rife all
over the world during the past few years, and has baffled
the efforts of physicians and sanitarians to arrest its
progress : it is sometimes accompanied by conditions
which can hardly be distinguished from catalepsy.
The Lancet, May 31, 1890, page 1215, states: — "The
neurotic sequelae of influenza seem engaging more
attention abroad than at home, probably from their
symptoms being more pronounced than on this side the
Channel. * Nona,' as it is called, if something more than
the somnolence succeeding the exhaustion of influenza,
has been thought in Upper Italy to have much in
common with catalepsy — one case, indeed, amounting
to the 'apparent death' of Pacini. This is reported
from Como. The patient, Pasquale Ossola by name,
had to all appearance died, and a certificate to that
effect, after due consultation, was drawn up and signed.
Already it wanted but an hour or so to the interment,
when the ' corpse ' began to move spontaneously and to
exhibit signs of returning life. The relatives of the
supposed dead man at once called in assistance, and
though animation and consciousness, even to recog-
nition, were restored, the resuscitation was not main-
tained, and the patient died. Fortunately, the funeral
INFLUENZA. 155
had been arranged on the traditional lines, and the
faint chance of return to life was not extinguished by
cremation."
SEDATIVES.
Referring to the supposed death of a girl, Sarola,
aged eleven years, to whom chloroform had been
administered in September, 1894, under peculiar circum-
stances, and the body hurried off to cremation, Dr.
Roger S. Chew, of Calcutta, writes : — " That bottle of
medicine was charged with having caused the death
of little Sarola, who, I firmly believe, was burned
alive while in a cataleptic condition induced by the
hysterical convulsions, and rendered profound by the
administration of the chloroform. Surgeon Lieutenant-
Colonel Edward Lawrie agrees with me that at least
ninety per cent, of the chloroform deaths are preven-
table if proper measures are adopted to resuscitate the
body, and it is quite possible for a chloroform anaesthetic
to be launched into eternity on the funeral pyre or in
the suffocating earth. What a mournful vista Sarola's
case opens up, and who can say how many hundreds
have been similarly disposed of!" — Communicated to the
A uthor.
Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, on "The Absolute
Signs and Proofs of Death," in the Asclepiad, first quar-
ter, 1889, p. 9, says: — "In the first experiments made
in this country with chloral, after the discovery of its
effects by Liebreich, we learned that such a deep nar-
cotism could be induced by this narcotic that it might
be impossible to say whether an animal under its in-
fluence were alive or dead." And referring to cataleptic
156 PREDISPOSING CAUSES.
trance due to shock, he observes, p. n, "True traumatic
catalepsy is equally remarkable, and equally embarras-
sing. It has been witnessed in the most destructive
form after shock by lightning, and it may also have
been met with after severe blows and contusions of
the head."
CHOLERA.
Dr. Chew, referring to another of the predisposing
causes of apparent death, and the danger of premature
burial in India, says : — " In the cholera season there is
a risk of a soldier being buried alive, as the custom is
to get rid of the body as soon as possible, and it is very
seldom indeed that a post-mortem is held on a cholera
corpse. If the case be one of true cholera, decomposition
sets in before the breath has entirely left the body, and,
immediately life is extinct, putrefaction rushes forward
so rapidly as to render a mistake impossible ; but in
choleraic diarrhoea or the lighter forms of cholera it is
possible that coma resultant on extreme collapse may
suspend animation so as to simulate real death without
actual cessation of vital energy, and lead to live sepulture,
except where, by some such lucky accident as the burial
ground being a long journey off, the funeral is delayed
sufficiently to give a chance of recovery. And this
same accident may prove a salvation in syncope or
coma from shock or protracted illness.
" With the civil population, save in very exceptional
cases, there is very little chance of recovery from
apparent death, as the time between alleged decease
and sepulture is very short indeed ; and unless there
are unmistakable signs of trance, syncope, or coma, the
victim must die after he (or she) has been buried alive."
NARROW ESCAPES. 157
CEREBRAL CONCUSSION.
Dr. Brouardel, Professor of Medical Jurisprudence,
Paris, mentions a case which came under his own eyes
while he was house-physician at La Pitie. He says : —
" A little bricklayer, aged thirteen, was brought in
one day, who had fallen from the sixth story to the
pavement. The accident happened in the Rue de la
Tournelle. The boy had been taken to a chemist, who
pronounced him to be dead, and sent him on to the
hospital. The director refused to admit him, as he was
dead. Now, either by intuition or else to bamboozle the
director, I stated that the lad was alive, although sounds
of the heart could not be heard on auscultation. I had
him put into a mustard bath, and, to my delight, he
came to. He had received no wound, nor any definite
injury, only he remembered nothing." The writer adds —
" He might have been buried alive."
DRUNKENNESS.
M. Bourneville cites the case of an old woman found
in the street, who no longer breathed or gave any sign
of life. Rectal temperature was 77° F. She was taken
to hospital, where energetic treatment was employed,
and she was restored to life. M. Laborde also mentions
a case of a man picked up in a lifeless condition at the
gate of the Bicetre. His rectal temperature was 75° F.
He eventually recovered.
VARIOUS PREDISPOSING DISEASES.
Living burials take place because the general public
are ignorant of the fact that there are many (some
158 PREDISPOSING CAUSES.
thirty) diseases, and some states of the body that cannot
be called diseases, as well as a number of incidents and
accidents, which produce all the appearances of death
so closely as to deceive any one.
Excessive joy or excessive grief will often paralyse
the nervous system, including the action of the heart
and the respiratory functions, and occasion the appear-
ance of sudden death ; as well as shocks, blows upon
the head, fright, strokes of lightning, violent displays of
temper ; also certain drugs now in common medical
use, such as Indian hemp, atropia, digitalis, tobacco,
morphia, and veratrum. According to Dr. Leonce Lenor-
mand, in " Des Inhumations Precipitees," pp. 85-104, the
following diseases and conditions not infrequently pro-
duce the like symptoms, viz., apoplexy, asphyxia, cata-
lepsy, epilepsy, nervous exhaustion, ecstasy, haemorrhage,
hysteria, lethargy, syncope, tetanus, etc,
Dr. Hartmann observes: — " The cases in which persons
apparently dead have been restored to health by appro-
priate means are innumerable, and such accounts may
be added to without end, as they are of daily occurrence,
while it is also self-evident that, if they had not thus
been saved, premature burial and death in the coffin
would have taken place. But it also often happens that
cases of apparent death recover spontaneously, and even
after all possible means taken for the restoration of life
have failed. This is specially the case in catalepsy, due
to nervous exhaustion, which requires no other remedy
than sufficient rest for the recuperation of the life-power,
which no kind of medicine can supply."
CHAPTER IX.
PREMATURE BURIAL AND CREMATION
IN INDIA.
THE following are some of the facts and experiences
which were brought to the author's notice during a visit
to India in the early part of 1896.
THE CALCUTTA BURNING GHAT.
On February 9, 1896, I visited the Burning Ghat on
the banks of the Ganges, Calcutta, where twenty bodies
are reduced to ashes by fire daily. The corpse of an
aged Hindu woman had just been brought in on my
arrival ; death, we were told, having occurred but an
hour before. The deputy registrar asked the nearest
relative a few questions as to the age, caste, next of kin,
cause of death, which were duly recorded in a book kept
for that purpose, and the charges having been paid, the
body, which was as supple as in life (and except for
want of volition bore no visible marks of death), was
placed upon the logs, which were alternately crossed over
each other, other logs being placed on the top of the
body, with straw underneath. The family being poor
in this case, no expensive spiced oils, ghee, or sandal
wood were used. The pyre having been sprinkled with
water from the sacred river, the nearest male relative
took a wisp of lighted straw and ran seven times round
l6o PREMATURE BURIAL AND CREMATION IN INDIA.
it, shouting, " Ram, Ram, sach hai " (the god Ram is
true and great indeed). He then applied the torch,
which in a few seconds reached the body, while a Hindu
priest recited verses from the Vedas. The process of
burning occupied about four hours. Two other bodies,
one an adult, and the other a child, were nearly burnt to
ashes during my visit.
HASTY DISPOSAL OF APPARENTLY DEAD.
It appears that in India, when the body is motionless,
and assumes a death-like appearance, as in trance or
catalepsy, no attempt is ever made at resuscitation, no
matter how suddenly or unexpectedly the supposed
death may occur, nor is there any proper method
of examination for the purpose of death-certification-
Amongst the Hindus death is not considered an evil,
but is the gate leading to a better and happier world.
Many Hindus, when ill, are carried by their friends to
the banks of the sacred Ganges, where they meet death
with much hope, and without fear.
At the General Hospital, Colombo, I was told by Dr.
Van Lagenberg that there was absolutely no protection
against premature burials for persons subject to trance,
as, although according to the law medical certification
was obligatory, medical examination was not ; the
doctor taking the word of the friends as to the fact of
death, and certifying accordingly. Early burial (about
six hours after death) was the rule. The Mother
Superior to the staff of nurses mentioned the case of
the venerable Father Vestarani, an aged Catholic priest
of Colombo, who was subject to attacks of epilepsy ;
HASTY DISPOSAL OF APPARENTLY DEAD. l6l
these were followed by apparent death, and he had
several narrow escapes from premature burial. This
case was also known to my friend, Mr. Peter de Abrew,
of Colombo, and others. The house surgeon, Dr. H. M.
Fernando, said that amongst the Moslems burial followed
apparent death very quickly, sometimes in an hour.
BRAHMIN RITES AND SUPERSTITIONS.
From Mr. Vira Raghava Chri, of Madras, manager of
the Hindu, I learned that the Brahmins always burn the
dead soon after death occurs. The relatives, if they
reside within easy reach, are sent for. The body is
washed in cold water, and after two or three hours the
religious service begins, which is performed by the
priests, and consists of citations from the Vedas, having
reference to the departure of the soul from the body,
and to the lessons the solemn event teaches. These
ceremonies generally last for two or three hours, after
which the body is taken to be burned. In answer to
my inquiries as to what would happen if within that
time no sign of decomposition was exhibited, Mr. Chri
informed me that under no circumstances would they
wait for more than six hours before the body was taken
to be burned. He had heard of cases of persons declared
to be dead coming to life while being carried to the
funeral pyre, when they were restored to and welcomed
by their friends. Cases were also known of the corpse
sitting up amidst the flames, and being beaten down by
those in charge of the funeral. They were believed to
be the victims of premature cremation. He thought,
however, that such cases were rare amongst his co-
religionists.
1 62 PREMATURE BURIAL AND CREMATION IN INDIA.
Mr. Mohan Chunder Roy, M.B., of Benares, said that
it was a very difficult matter, even for a medical prac-
titioner, to distinguish the living from the dead, and
where there were no signs of putrefaction, it was his
custom to advise the relatives to wait before burial, or
before sending the body to the burning ghat, which they
were very reluctant to do. When apparent revivals to
consciousness occurred on the pyre, the superstitious
people believed that it was due to the presence of evil
spirits, and the attempt to escape is frustrated by
cremators in charge of the burning ghat. This bar-
barous custom has been repeatedly affirmed to me by
intelligent natives as a matter of common notoriety.
One reason why Hindus are hurried to the cremation
ground so quickly, and without waiting to see whether
the case is one of trance or suspended animation, is that
the relatives are not allowed either to eat or drink while
the body remains in the house. If a person touches any
article in the house of mourning, that article must be
washed and purified. After the cremation all the rela-
tives purify themselves by bathing before they are allowed
to eat or drink.
JUST GROUNDS FOR FEAR.
Mr. Durga Prasad, editor of the Harbinger, Lahore,
writes, February 29, 1896: — "I recollect, when about
twelve years old, my grandmother, who was held in
great esteem for her piety and experience, told me that
she was once declared to be dead, and was therefore
carried to our crematorium, or burning-place ; but when
about to be burnt she came back to life."
SUPERSTITIOUS FEARS. 163
Mr. Joseph, assistant secretary at the Public Library
and Museum, Colombo, told the author that his father,
owing to weakness of the heart, was subject to frequent
attacks of trance-like insensibility. They passed away
by simple treatment in a few hours, but were sometimes
quite alarming. He was afraid, owing to the super-
stitious fear of death among the ignorant classes in
Ceylon, and the terror which keeping a corpse, or a
person in a state of catalepsy, where volition had ceased,
excited, that many were buried or buf ned alive, as it was
the custom, particularly amongst the Mohammedans,
to carry the body away a few hours after death. Signs
of decomposition quickly appeared in a tropical climate,
but this unequivocal mode of verifying death was not
often waited for by Moslems.
SINHALESE CUSTOMS.
Sri Sumangala, the venerable High Priest of the
Buddhists of Ceylon, and Principal of the College for
Buddhist Priests, at an interview the author had with
him in January, 1896, stated that among the Sinhalese
the chances of burial or cremation of the apparently
dead are not frequent. Their customs are such that a
corpse is seldom or never removed for burial or crema-
tion before the expiry of twenty-four hours after death
is said to have taken place. During that time climatic
influence renders signs of decomposition and putrefaction
apparent.
Only one case came under the observation of the
venerable theologian, which was that of a person bitten
by a cobra. The man apparently succumbed, but a
164 PREMATURE BURIAL AND CREMATION IN INDIA.
native specialist, having arrived at the cemetery just
before the burial, examined the case, and said that life
was not extinct ', and saved the man from a premature
grave.
The following is from the British Medical Journal,
April 26, 1884, p. 844:—
"PREMATURE INTERMENT.
"The Times of India, for March 21, has the following story: —
On last Friday morning the family of a Goanese, named Manuel,
aged seventy years, who had been for the last four months suffer-
ing from dysentery, thinking that he was dead, made preparations
for his funeral. He was placed in a coffin and taken from his
house, at Worlee, to a chapel at Lower Mahim, preparatory to
burial. The priest, on putting his hand on the man's chest, found
his heart still beating. He was thereupon removed to the Jamset-
jee Jejeeboy Hospital, where he remained in an unconscious state
up to a late hour on last Friday night, when he died."
SUPERSTITIONS AND DANGERS.
In a communication to the author from Mr. Nasarvariji
F. Billimoria, dated March 14, 1896, the writer says
that where cases of premature burning have occurred in
India, the relatives are unwilling to have the facts
published, and shrink from making them known.
Moreover, when persons have been once declared dead,
and have been rejected by their friends in the land of
shadows, and have returned to this life, they are
believed to brin^r misfortune with them, and discredit is
o
attached to the families in consequence. Mr. Billimoria
says the following cases can be relied upon as
authentic :—
"In the year 18 — , in the town of B , a Marwari was taken
as dead, and carried to the cremation-ground. Unfortunately, at
SUPERSTITIONS AND DANGERS. 165
that time a superstition was prevalent among all classes of Indians
that, if a dead one is brought back to his or her house, a plague
would break out in the town. When, therefore, the Marwari sur-
vived, instead of bringing him back to the house, or even allowing
him to roam elsewhere, he was killed, it is said, by a hatchet, which
they were in the habit of carrying with them to break the fuel for
the funeral pyre. This had happened in the old Gaekwari days
when Governments did not interfere in the superstitious customs
of the people."
Fortunately, however, those days are gone, and with
them the old superstitions. Some time ago a fisher-
woman, after taking a liberal dose of alcoholic drink
and opium, was found (apparently) dead by her rela-
tives— low-caste Hindus. No time is lost among the
Hindus, high or low caste, to remove the body to the
cremation ground after a man is found dead.
"A bamboo bier was being prepared to carry the fisherwoman
to the Samashdn (cremation ground), upon which the body was
laid as usual, and the relatives were to lift it to their shoulders :
when, lo ! the woman turned herself on the bier on her side, and,
thanks to the good sense of the fisherman, she is still enjoying her
life while I am writing.
" A young daughter of a Bania was sick for a long time, and was
found apparently dead by her relatives, and carried to the Sama-
shdn. These grounds are generally situated at a river side. When
the bier was prepared for certain ceremonies, the girl showed signs
of revival, and, one by one, the relatives would go near the bier,
bend down, stare at the face, and retire aghast. Information had
reached the town that the girl had survived ; but the body, never-
theless, was cremated, and never brought back to the house. It is
believed that in this case, although the girl had revived for a little
time, she had died soon afterwards, as she had been ill for a long
time previously. Granting that this was a case in which the dying
became actively conscious a few minutes before real death, it is
l66 PREMATURE BURIAL AND CREMATION IN INDIA.
certain that great and indecent haste was practised by the relatives
in pressing on the cremation, as is the usual mode in India."
A QUESTION FOR THE NATIONAL CONGRESS.
The Bombay Guardian, January n, 1896, reports : —
"A Brahmin went to Poona, to attend the National Congress.
He was laid up with fever, became dangerously ill, and fell into a
trance. His friends, thinking him dead, made the necessary
arrangements for the funeral. They took the supposed dead man
to the river to be burned, but just as the funeral procession
arrived near the Shane temple his head and hands were seen
moving. The cloth having been removed from his face, he opened
his eyes and tried to speak. He was taken home."
The subject of hasty and premature burials in India
might with much profit be introduced at the National
Congress. The author believes that thousands of people
are annually buried and burned in a state of suspended
animation — particularly in places where cholera, small-
pox, and other devastating plagues prevail. It is usual
both amongst the Parsees and the Hindus, to begin
preparations for the religious ceremonies when the case
is considered hopeless.
Dr. Roger S. Chew, of Calcutta, who for some years
occupied the position of army surgeon in India, writes
to the author : — " Though there is every risk of live
interment with those classes who bury their dead, this
is a risk (save in cases of epidemic or battlefield) the
British soldier never runs in India, where the military
law requires that a post-mortem examination, not earlier
than twelve hours after decease, must be held on
every soldier who dies from any cause except a highly
GREAT NEED OF PRECAUTION. 167
contagious or infectious disease." In the present un-
satisfactory state of the law might not this safeguard
be generally adopted?
THE TOWERS OF SILENCE, BOMBAY.
On Sunday, March 15, 1896, my daughter and I
were accompanied to the Towers of Silence, situated on
the highest part of Malabar Hill, Bombay, by Mr. Phiroze
C. Sethna, a highly accomplished Parsee merchant, to
whom we were indebted for many acts of kindness
during our sojourn in the city. The position is one
of rare beauty, commanding as it does charming
panoramic views of Bombay and the surrounding neigh-
bourhood, while immediately below are extensive cocoa
and other tropical plantations. At the entrance to the
towers is a notice-board in English, stating that none
but Parsees are admitted. We passed under the porch
into the sacred enclosure, and found ourselves in the
midst of a lovely garden planted with choice shrubs
and trees, and were each presented by the gardener
with bouquets of freshly-cut flowers.
The towers are five in number, the smallest having
been erected in 1669, all modelled after the same pat-
tern, and are about twenty-five feet high. Inside is
a cbcular platform about three hundred feet in circum-
fertwce paved with large slabs, and divided into rows
of shallow open receptacles in which the bodies are
placed. There are three sections — for males, females,
and children. We noticed a number of vultures sitting
on the adjacent trees, and were informed that, when a
funeral is on its way, large numbers congregate upon
168 PREMATURE BURIAL AND CREMATION IN INDIA.
the coping of the tower, ready to seize the body and
devour it the moment it is deposited by the corpse-
bearers on the slabs, after the conclusion of the funeral
ceremonies. In an hour or less the corpse is completely
stripped of its flesh, when the bones are thrown into a
well. From a sanitary point of view the plan is pre-
ferable to burying or to cremation, which last, as it is
carried out in India, is a slow and tedious process.
Vultures have never been known to attack children, or
even babies left by their mothers tied for safety to a
branch of a tree, and will not, it is said, attack a person
only apparently dead, as in a trance or coma.
CANINE DIAGNOSTICIANS.
Another custom amongst the Parsees in the treatment
of their dead is to bring a dog to the corpse before it is
removed from the house, and another dog on its arrival
at the Tower of Silence. This ceremony is known as the
Sagdeed. In a pamphlet on the "Funeral Ceremonies of
the Parsees," by Ervad Jivanji Jamshedje Mody, B.A.,
a learned priest of the Parsee cult, with whom the
author had the pleasure of an interview, the explanation
is that, according to the ancient belief, the spotted dog
can discriminate between the really and the apparently
dead. Dr. Franz Hartmann and other writers appear
also to be of the opinion, which the author considers
highly probable, that a dog knows whether his m; ster
is really dead or only in a trance ; but that a strange
dog would be able to discriminate and act as a sentinel
to prevent a living person being mistaken for a dead
one, is highly improbable.
INDIA'S REVELATIONS. 169
TRAGEDIES AT THE TOWERS OF SILENCE.
Having heard of several cases of persons taken to the
Towers of Silence who recovered consciousness after
being laid within the enclosure, I asked Mr. Jivanji
Mody what would happen in such a case, and what
means of escape there would be. Mr. Mody replied
that within the tower there is a chain hanging from the
coping to the floor, by which a person could draw
himself up to the top of the structure, and he would then
be seen and rescued. In a neatly-constructed model of
these towers at the museum, Victoria Gardens, Bombay,
no chain is visible. The subject of apparent death, or
suspended animation, and how to prevent premature
burial, premature cremation, and premature exposure
in the Towers of Silence, is beginning to excite interest
in some parts of India. Mr. Ardeshar Nowroji, Fort,
Bombay, student of Zoroastrian literature, is to read
a paper on the subject before the Debating Society
at Elphinstone College. Mr. Soabjee Dhunjeebhoy
Wadia is also studying literature bearing on the same
topic.
Mr. Dadabohy Nusserwanje, a Bombay Parsee and
merchant, residing at Colombo, Ceylon, informed the
author, January 28, 1896, that he knew of two cases
where his co-religionists had been declared dead, and
the bodies prepared for burial (the preparation including
the long religious service as prescribed by their formulas),
who were only in a trance. This was proved by their
having come back to life when placed in the Towers
of Silence in Bombay. It appears that any persons
officially and religiously given over for dead were
12
I/O PREMATURE BURIAL AND CREMATION IN INDIA.
formerly not allowed to be restored to their relatives,
or to the society to which they belonged, as they were
supposed to carry with them, from their dead associates,
liability to plague or ill luck, and they are consequently
obliged to migrate to distant parts of the country. My
informant said that this superstition was so deeply
rooted in the minds of the Parsee people that he did
not think a reform was possible.
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES.
Cases of persons in a trance, mistaken for dead, are
by no means uncommon, as would appear from the
following communication from Mr. Nasarvariji F.
Billimoria, a Parsee of Bombay, addressed to Dr. Franz
Hartmann, and not previously published : —
" Several cases of revival of the apparently dead among the
Parsees," writes Mr. Billimoria, " have come to my notice.
"A Parsee, whom I shall call M B , was given up as
dead. The body was laid on the ground, and the usual
ceremonies were being performed, when, to the surprise of the
people surrounding the body, he rose and described some spiritual
experience. He died long after this event took place, at a good
old age, at Bilimora, a town about eighty miles north of Bombay.
"S , a girl of about ten years, was also taken as dead in the
same town, and, after laying her body on the ground, prayers were
being recited by the priests. She rose and said that she had been
to some other land, where she saw an old lady who ordered her
to go away, as she was not required there just then. She died at
a good old age a few months ago.
"A woman in the garb of a Hindu beggar was some time ago
in the habit of interviewing Parsee ladies at odd times, viz., at
about three or four o'clock in the morning, at the same place, and
asking several questions pertaining to religion. It was afterwards
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. I/ 1
found that she was K (widow of a Parsee priest), who had
apparently died a short time before, and, after revival, had emerged
from the Tower of Silence, and, a superstition being prevalent
among the people that none should be taken back among us who
return from the dead, she dared not unite with the Parsees, and
hence led a wanderers life.
" In Bombay, too, I have heard of some cases of the revival of
the apparently dead among the Parsees, the principal of them
being a lady of a wealthy family, and a Parsee who afterwards
•carried on his profession as a physician. The physician was living
as a Christian on account of the prejudice among the Parsees
before referred to. He was called "Mutchala Daktar," z>., doctor
with big moustache.
"Similar cases had also occurred in Surat, where two Parsee
women had returned from the Towers of Silence, one of whom
lived afterwards as a Sanyasini. What became of the other I
cannot say."
PARSEE FUNERAL RITES.
" The funeral ceremonies among the Parsees provide
that, after the signs of death are manifest, the body be
washed with warm water, and laid on a clean sheet ;
two persons hold the hands of the dead person, joining
themselves by a paivand of tape. The priests recite
certain prayers, after which the body is laid on ground
set apart for the purpose in the house. Here it lies for
several hours, during which time priests recite alternately
certain prayers, while a fire is kept alive with fragrant
combustibles near the body. The Nasasalars, or
corpse-bearers, arrive at the appointed time, when
the fire is taken away, and other manthras or prayers,
which occupy an hour or so, are recited by two priests
conjointly, gazing first on the iron bier, and then on
the face of the body. A procession is then formed
1/2 PREMATURE BURIAL AND CREMATION IN INDIA.
and the body is carried by the Nasasalars only, the
others walking in pairs, joining themselves by holding
a handkerchief in their hands, several yards distant from
the body. The Towers of Silence are removed from
the habitations of mankind, sometimes miles distant,
where, after the arrival of the funeral procession, the last
obeisance is performed, and the body is carried into the
tower, which is called Dukkmdh, the mourners, except
the Nasasalars, remaining outside. The procession
returns after further prayers. The towers are entirely
open from above to allow ample sunlight, and to allow
the carrion-birds access to the dead.
" From the foregoing it would appear that, with regard
to the disposal of the dead, the Parsee system offers
advantages, in respect of the revival of the supposed
dead persons, over the European system of burial.
After real or supposed death, a fire is kept burning near
the body, the heat of which would indirectly assist in
resuscitating those in a state of suspended animation.
"If a man dies in the afternoon his body is not carried
to the towers till next day, and in that case the fire is
kept alive the whole night near the body, two priests
alternately reciting manthras. Some time is thus allowed
to intervene between the supposed death and the disposal
of the body in the Towers of Silence. There, too, the
body is not laid without Zoroastrian ceremony. But in
the system of disposal itself we see another protection,
in that the carrion-birds do not touch the body unless
they instinctively find evidence of putrefaction. It is a
fact that in not a few cases persons have escaped from
the dismal and terrible fate of bein£ laid alive in the
o
Towers of Silence. The system of disposal in the tower
PARSEE FUNERAL RITES.
may appear to non-Zoroastrians repulsive ; but neither
the system of cremation or burial will give us back
those whom they have once devoured. That the Parsees
do not allow those who have returned from the Towers
of Silence to intermingle among them is another ques-
tion. This too, however, has attracted the attention
of this small community ; and I hear that there is a
standing order issued from the trustees of the Parsee
Panchayet at Bombay to the Nasasalars (the corpse-
bearers) to the effect that they would be rewarded if they
would give information or bring back any body which
had been revived after it had been carried to the Towers
of Silence."
INSTANCES OF CANINE SAGACITY.
The Parsee custom of using the dog is suggestive.
There are numerous cases on record where a dog,
following his master to the grave as one of the
mourners, has refused to leave the grave ; and these
have been quoted as a proof of the undying love of
the master's canine friend. May it not be that dogs
are gifted, as believed by the Parsees, with another sense
denied to most men — the faculty of discerning between
real and apparent death ? A medical correspondent
relates the following :—
"In Austria, in 1870, a man seemed to be dead, and was
placed in a coffin. After the usual three days of watching over
the supposed corpse, the funeral was commenced ; and when the
coffin was being carried out of the house, it was noticed that the
dog which belonged to the supposed defunct became very cross,
and manifested great eagerness towards the coffin, and could not
be driven away. Finally, as the coffin was about to be placed in
1/4 PREMATURE BURIAL AND CREMATION IN INDIA.
the hearse, the dog attacked the bearers so furiously that they
dropped it on the ground ; and in the shock the lid was broken
off, and the man inside awoke from his lethargic condition, and
soon recovered his full consciousness. He was alive and well at
last news of him. Dogs might possibly be of use in deciding-
doubtful cases, where their master was concerned."
Also the following : —
"The postmaster of a village in Moravia 'died' in a fit of
epilepsy, and was buried three days afterwards in due form. He
had a little pet dog which showed great affection towards him, and
after the burial the dog remained upon the man's grave and
howled dismally, and would not be driven away. Several times
the dog was taken home forcibly, but whenever it could escape it
immediately returned. This lasted for a week, and became the
talk of the village. About a year afterwards that part of the
graveyard had to be removed owing to an enlargement in building
the church, and consequently the grave of the postmaster was
opened, and the body was found in such a state and position as
to leave no doubt that he had been buried alive, had returned to
consciousness, and had died in the grave. The physician who
had signed the certificate of death went insane on that account,,
soon after the discovery was made."
CHAPTER X.
THE DANGER OF HASTY BURIALS.
EARLY burials are advocated and defended by certain
writers on sanitary grounds ; and there is, no doubt,
something to be said for them, provided the body shows
unmistakable signs of dissolution.
I have not unfrequently seen in the course of my
professional duties, when visiting the houses of the poor,
a corpse placed in its coffin in a corner of the tiny
sitting-room of a four-chambered hovel in a- city slum,
where the family were having their meals, and all day
a stream of neighbours would be calling to gaze upon
the gruesome spectacle. It might be urged that such
instances demanded, in the name of decency, that speedy
burial should be enforced, but do not such weird
conditions rather call for a waiting mortuary, whence
the body could be removed until unmistakable signs of
death set in ? To impose a general rule of speedy burial
upon Englishmen by Parliament, or upon Americans by
State Legislature, as has been urged, would but add to
the existing evil of perfunctory and mistaken diagnosis
of death, and greatly increase the number of premature
interments.
ANCIENT PRACTICES.
The Romans kept the bodies of the dead a week
before burial, lest through haste they should inter them
1/ THE DANGER OF HASTY BURIALS.
while life remained. Servius, in his commentary on
Virgil, tells us — " That on the eighth day they burned
the body, and on the ninth put its ashes in the grave."
Plato enjoined the bodies of the dead to be kept until
the third day, in order (as he says) to be satisfied of
the reality of the death. Quintilian explains why the
Romans delayed burials as follows : — " For what pur-
pose do ye imagine that long-delayed interments were
invented ? Or, on what account is it that the mournful
pomp of funeral solemnities is always interrupted by
sorrowful groans and piercing cries ? Why, for no
other reason, but because we have seen persons return
to life after they were about to be laid in the grave as
dead." " For this reason," adds Lancisi, in " De Subita
Mort," lib. i., cap. 15, "the Legislature has wisely
and prudently prohibited the immediate, or the too
speedy, interment of all dead persons, and especially
of such as have the misfortune to be cut off by a sudden
death."
Terilli, a celebrated physician of Venice, in a treatise
of the " Causes of Sudden Death," sect. vi. cap. 2,
says : — " Since the body is sometimes so deprived of
every vital function, and the principle of life reduced so
low, that it cannot be distinguished from death, the laws
both of natural comparison and revealed religion oblige
us to wait a sufficient time for life manifesting itself by
the usual signs, peradventure it should not be, as yet,
totally extinguished ; and if we should act a contrary
part, we may possibly become murderers, by confining
to the gloomy regions of the dead those who are actually
alive."
STRIKING TESTIMONIES. 1/7
CONTINENTAL EVIDENCE.
Mr, Cooper, surgeon, in his treatise on " The Uncer-
tainty of the Signs of Death," pp. 70, 71, had in his
possession the following certificate, written and signed
by Mr. Blau, a native of Auvergne, a man of untainted
veracity : — <£ I hereto subscribe, and declare, that fifty-
five years ago, happening to reside at Toulouse for the
sake of my studies, and going to St. Stephen's Church
to hear a sermon, I saw a corpse brought thither for the
sake of interment. The ceremony, however, was delayed
till the sermon should be over ; but the supposed dead
person being laid in a chapel, and attended by all the
mourners, about the middle of the sermon discovered
manifest signs of life, for which reason he was quickly
conveyed back to his own house. From a consideration
of circumstances, it is sufficiently obvious that, without
the intervention of the sermon, the man had been
interred alive."
Between 1780 and 1800 many pamphlets on the
subject appeared in Germany and France. Opposite
sides were taken, some advocating delay until putre-
faction, others urging immediate burial.
In 1791, Rev. J. W. C. Wolff, in Germany, published
numerous narratives of narrow escapes from the grave.
In 1792, Rev. Johann Moritz Schwager stated that
he had preached for twenty years against precipitate
burials, and that he had been requested to do so by
a number of corporate bodies who had evidence of the
danger of hasty interments.
About 1800 great excitement prevailed in Germany
on account of some narrow escapes from living burial
1/8 THE DANGER OF HASTY BURIALS.
that happened in high quarters, many books and pam-
phlets having been issued, and sermons preached by the
clergy on the subject. The key-note of all of these was
the fallaciousness of the appearances of death, and that
none were reliable but decomposition.
About this period Dr. Herachborg, of Konigsberg,
Prussia, wrote that for forty years, as a doctor, he had
always been disgusted with the practice of hasty
burials ; and to show the ignorance of the times, he
mentions the case of a woman he kept under observation
in bed for three days, when her relations took her out
and placed her on the floor, insisting that she was dead,
He resisted her burial, and had her covered with
blankets ; so that by being kept warm she recovered
completely. He insisted that no sign of death could
be relied upon.
The British Medical Journal of April 12, 1862, p. 390,
quotes the Gaz. Med. d' Orient as follows: — "People
in Constantinople are, in all probability, not unfrequently
buried alive, in consequence of the precipitancy with
which their burial is performed. If the person dies
during the night, he has some chance of escaping prema-
ture sepulture ; but if he dies during the day, he is sure
to be in his tomb in two hours after he has drawn his
last breath. Facts of daily occurrence in this country,
we are told, prove that persons who were thought to
have died during the night have recovered before
morning, and thus, thanks to the intervention of night,
have been saved from being interred alive. Other facts
of not unfrequent occurrence show that persons have
recovered while on their road to the grave. In other
rarer cases, again, the cries of the revivified half-buried
CONTINENTAL EVIDENCE.
ones have been heard by the passers-by, and thus saved
from a horrible conclusion."
DANGER OF JEWISH CUSTOM.
In all countries it is the custom amongst the Jews to
bury their dead, and apparently dead, quickly, without
taking the slightest steps for restoration, and many are
the catastrophes recorded.
In 1788, Marcus Hertz wrote strongly against the
prevailing precipitate burials among the Jews. He
asked " What motive could justify hasty burials," and
continued : — " The writings of learned men and doctors,
of both early times and recent date, describe the dangers
of precipitate burial ; there is not a town in the world
that has not its stones of revivals in the grave."
"The Report of the Royal Humane Society" of 1802
states : — " At the funeral of a Jewess, one of the bearers
thought he heard repeatedly some motion in the coffin,
and informed his friends. Medical assistance being-
obtained, she returned to her home in a few hours,
completely restored."
The Jewish World, September 13, 1895, observes:—
" Cases of trance and of the burial of persons who only
seemed to be dead, and of narrow escapes of others
from the most terrible of all imaginable fates, are not
so uncommon as most people suppose ; and while Jews
adhere to the practice of interring their dead within a
few hours after their supposed demise, there will always
be a risk of such horrible catastrophes happening, even
more frequently among us than among the general
community. Here is, then, really a matter in which
some reform is needed, and that without a day's delay.
I SO THE DANGER OF HASTY BURIALS.
" To say nothing of the merely human aspect of this
important question, to bury until decomposition has
actually set in might possibly be shown to be a violation
of Jewish Law. It is now commonly admitted that even
expert medical men cannot be absolutely certain of
death until some signs of decomposition have shown
themselves. Now, so strict is the Jewish Law as regards
the risk of destroying life, that it is prohibited to even
move or touch a man or woman who is on the point of
death, lest we hasten, by a moment, their dissolution.
It is, therefore, no less than a violation of the Jewish
laws against murder to preserve a custom that involves
even the minutest scintilla of risk of premature burial.
It is high time that this question was seriously taken up
by the Jewish clergy and laity." l
In the province of Quebec no interment is permitted
within twenty-four hours, and the Jews reconcile them-
selves to this delay, which, however, is far too brief to
ensure safety.
FURTHER JEWISH CATASTROPHES.
The British Medical Journal, March 8, 1879, p. 356,
under the heading of " Suspended Animation," relates
the following incident:—
" A Jew, aged seventy, who had been ailing for some
time, apparently died recently in Lemberg, on a Friday
night, after severe convulsions. The decease having
been legally certified, the body was put on a bier,
1 For the antiquity of the Jewish practice of early burial, see appendix.
JEWISH CATASTROPHES. l8l
preparatory to the funeral, which had to be deferred,
the next day being the Jewish Sabbath. Two pious
brethren who had, according to their custom, been
spending the night in prayer, watching the dead, were
suddenly, on the morning of the Saturday, disturbed
from their devotions by strange sounds proceeding from
the bier, and, to their dismay, saw the dead man slowly
rising, and preparing to descend from it, using at the
same time very strong language. Both brethren fled
very precipitately ; and one of them has since died from
the effects of the fright. It is hoped by the Wiener
Medicinische Zeitung, that this case will make the local
government watch the Jewish funerals more carefully,
as it is known that the Jews often bury their dead very
quickly."
The Undertakers1 Journal, January 22, 1887, says: —
"The dangers that may arise from premature interment
are illustrated by a sensational incident which recently
occurred at Trencsin, in Hungary. The wife of the
Rabbi of the Jewish Congregation apparently died
suddenly without having been previously ill. The
night before the funeral the female watcher, sitting in
an adjoining room, heard a noise in the chamber of
death, and when, stricken with horror, she ventured to
open the door, she found that the seemingly dead woman
had risen from her bier, and had thrown off the shroud
by which she was covered. By a fortunate accident the
interment had been postponed in consequence of the
intervening Sabbath, otherwise a horrible fate would
have overtaken the Rabbi's wife."
1 82 THE DANGER OF HASTY BURIALS.
THE LANCET'S TRENCHANT CRITICISM.
The Lancet, August 23, 1884, vol. ii., p. 329, comments
thus upon the subject of " Burying Cholera Patients
Alive " : —
" It is not so much undue haste as inexcusable care-
lessness that must be blamed for the premature burying
of persons who are not really dead. Such heedlessness
as alone can lead to the commission of this crime is
not a shade less black than manslaughter. We speak
strongly, because this is a matter in regard to which
measures ought to be at once taken to render the
horrible act impossible, and to dismiss all fear from the
public mind. If it be a fact, as would seem to be
indisputable, that during the last few weeks there have
been cases— we will not attempt to say how many or
how few — of burying alive, a scandal and a horror,
wholly unpardonable in the last quarter of the nineteenth
century, have to be faced; and the sooner the full truth
is known and rules of safety established the better.
Let it be once for all decided that measures shall be
taken to ascertain the fact of death before burial. Why
not revert to the old practice, and always open a vein
in the arm after death, or pass a current of electricity
through the body before the coffin is finally screwed
down? It may be held that these unpleasant resorts
are unnecessary. We do not think they are. In any
case enough is known of the possibilities of ' suspended
animation' to render it unsafe to bury until the evidences
of an actual extinction of life are unmistakable ; and, as
it is impossible to wait until decomposition sets in in all
cases . of death from infectious diseases, it would be
THE LANCET'S CRITICISM. 183
prudent to adopt what must certainly be the least of
evils."
Whilst sharing most fully with the Lancet its
justifiable indignation at the scandals which had
undeniably occurred, we, nevertheless, cannot agree
with its conclusion as to the impossibility of waiting
until decomposition sets in in the case of infectious
diseases. If, as it maintains, it is not possible to wait
until the only absolute sign of death is manifest, then, in
a large majority of cases, there is no safety, and those
who die fatally mutilated by horrible accidents may be
considered fortunate. The difficulty, we admit, is of a
serious nature, particularly for the poor, and can only
be overcome by the erection of mortuaries, as discussed
in another chapter. The expedient of applying the
electric current, suggested by the Lancet, has been
proved useless in cases of death-trance, where the
patients are impervious to the most violent modes of
cutaneous excitation.
DANGERS AT SEA.
It is well known that sailors, as a rule, are very
superstitious as to dead bodies remaining on board ship,
and it has been the invariable custom, except under
very special circumstances, to drop a deceased voyageur
overboard as speedily as possible. The danger attending
such a practice is evidenced by the following circum-
stance, communicated by Dr. K. H. Crom, dentist,
Munich, in a letter dated 2Oth June, 1899 : —
"In 1886 or 1887 a Mrs. Miller was taken suddenly
ill while on a voyage from France to America. In spite
184 THE DANGER OF HASTY BURIALS.
of the efforts of the ship's surgeon, she continued to
grow worse, and apparently died, and was prepared for
burial at sea ; but her husband, although overcome with
grief, noticed that she did not assume the rigidity
characteristic of death, and accordingly begged the
captain to defer the burial until rigor mortis was noticed
or putrefaction set in. The captain kindly consented,
and a strict watch was kept to detect any sign of
returning consciousness or of putrefaction.
" Her husband was, of course, a constant watcher, and
hardly left her side for two days ; and, remarkable as it
may seem, it is -nevertheless a fact that, after a period of
about forty-eight hours, signs of returning consciousness
were observed. Restoratives were applied, and in a short
time she was able to converse, and in a few days she was
to all appearances as well as ever. During her state of
apparent death, she was at times perfectly conscious of
her surroundings, although unable to move or make the
slightest sign to let those around her know she was still
alive."
THE DANGER is REAL.
It may be said that the dangers which have been
referred to in this chapter are not so imminent in
the United Kingdom as in France, Spain, Portugal,
or even in the United States, owing to the existence
of a more temperate climate, and the longer period
allowed for burial. This may be so and yet the
danger be considerable. It must be remembered that
o
in the rural districts nothing in the shape of examination
to establish the fact of death is practised ; while in
certain parts of Cornwall, throughout the greater part
THE DANGER IS REAL. 185
of agricultural Ireland, amongst the Jews in all cities
and towns, as well as those who in all places are certified
as having died of cholera, small-pox, and other infectious
and epidemic diseases, burial often follows certified death
quite as quickly as in the Continental States before
mentioned. In all the public resorts on the Continent
the hotel-keepers, through an insensate fear of death
and the injury which the possession of " a corpse," dead
or alive, may do to their business, have them coffined
and disposed of, particularly in the night, within a few
hours of their supposed death. Dr. D. de Lignieres, in
"Pour ne pas etre Enterre Vivant," Paris, 1893, says he
has known of burials under such circumstances six hours
after death. This author says that these scandalous
homicidal acts are of everyday occurrence, and that the
rapacious landlords have no difficulty in obtaining
certificates of death from the accommodating mort
verificateurs. Every one who visits the hotels des villes
d'eaux, des stations balmaires, may verify (he says) the
truth of this statement for himself. In short these are
willing disciples of the " Latest Decalogue " : —
"Thou shalt not kill ; but need'st not strive
Officiously to keep alive."
CHAPTER XI.
FEAR OF PREMATURE BURIAL.
DEMONSTRATED BY WILLS.
MANY of those who are most familiar with the phenomena
of life and death, including celebrated physicians, men
of science, and clergymen, knowing that all the ordinary
signs of death (referred to in another chapter) have, in
practice, sometimes proved delusive, have been a prey
to the suspicion that a fatal mistake is possible in their
own case. They have, therefore, left precise instructions
in their wills for various preventives which experience
has shown to be necessary, and in some instances a
combination of these, so as to make doubly sure that
they shall not be subjected, like thousands of human
beings, to the unspeakable horrors of being buried
alive. Such is the morbid dread of premature burial
that, since Count Karnice-Karnicki's method of pre-
venting burial alive (which will be described later on)
has been introduced, many hundreds of persons in
France have left directions in their wills for his system
to be adopted at the time of their alleged decease.
Several daily papers drew attention to two wills
published on the same day, viz., Aug. 13, 1903, where
the testators gave special directions to ensure the
certainty of their demise.
One was the late Mr. John Newton, a well-known
silk dyer, of Macclesfield, who asked that his executor,
TESTAMENTARY DIRECTIONS. 1 87
on hearing of his death, should call in a doctor other
than his regular medical attendant, to ascertain and
satisfy himself, by any scientific or other means, that
life had left his body, and that he was not in a state
of "coma, trance, or suspended animation."
The second will was that of Miss Caroline Townsend
Robarts, of Bromley, Kent, in which the testatrix
desired that on her death a medical man should cut
an artery or apply some other means to ascertain that
death was certain, and to avoid the danger of her being
buried in a trance.
PECULIAR REQUESTS.
Mr. Horace Wei by, in his volume entitled " Mysteries
of Life, Death, and Futurity," 1861, under the head of
" Premature Interment," p. 114, says : — " How prevalent
is the fear of being buried alive may be gathered from
the number of instances in which men have requested
that, before the last offices are done for them, such
wounds or mutilations should be inflicted upon their
bodies as would effectually prevent the possibility of an
awakening in the tomb. Dr. Dibdin relates that Francis
Douce, the antiquary, requested, in his will, that Sir
Anthony Carlisle, the surgeon, should sever his head
from his body, or take out his heart, to prevent the
return of vitality ; and his co-residuary legatee, Mr.
Kerrick, has also requested the same operation to be
performed in the presence of his son."
The late Lady Burton, widow of Sir Richard Burton,
provided that her heart was to be pierced with a
needle, and her body to be submitted to a post-mortem
examination, and afterwards embalmed (not stuffed) by
1 88 FEAR OF PREMATURE BURIAL.
competent experts. Lady Burton, it is said, had been
subject to fits of trance on more than one occasion,,
and was terribly afraid that such an attack might be
diagnosed as death.
The Secretary to the Howard Association says that
Howard, the philanthropist, dreaded premature burial
both for himself and others, and ordered that after
his death one or two of his veins should be opened,
and his burial delayed for at least five days.
APPREHENSIONS OF WELL-KNOWN PERSONAGES.
Bishop Berkeley, Daniel O'Connell, and the late
Lord Lytton entertained similar apprehensions. Wilkie
Collins had a like fear, for he always left on his
dressing-table a letter in which he solemnly enjoined
his people that if he were found dead in the morning,
he should at once be carefully examined by a doctor.
Hans Christian Andersen had a similar dread, and
carried in his pocket a note to the effect that, when
the time came, his friends were to make sure that he
was really dead before burial. Harriet Martineau left
her doctor ten pounds to see that her head was am-
putated before burial. The dread of being buried
alive dictated a clause in the will of the distinguished
actress, the late Miss Ada Cavendish, for the severance
of the jugular vein ; and prompted the late Mr. Edmund
Yates to leave similar instructions, with the provision
that a fee of twenty guineas should be paid for the
operation, which was carried out. Mr. John Rose, of
New York, who died in November, 1895, made known
his earnejt desire, that his coffin should not be closed,
INSTANCES OF APPREHENSION. 189
but laid in the family vault at Roseton, and guarded
day and night by two caretakers, who were instructed
to watch for signs of re-animation.
A well-known and eccentric Dublin doctor, Dr.
Heron, was found dead in his bed at Monkstown in
October, 1901, and pinned to the bed over his body
was the following note, written in pencil : — " Notice. —
Do not bury me till I am dead. Don't mind the
doctors, unless they put a knife through my heart.
You will never forgive yourselves. To all in the
Division Court when I may be thought dead. No
mortal can tell if a man is dead until he begins to
rot, or there is a good hole through his head." Evidence
at the inquest showed that the poison was taken in
•darkness in mistake for a sleeping draught, and a
verdict of " death from misadventure " was returned.
One of His Majesty's Judges informed the author
recently, that he was so convinced of the danger of
premature burial, that when sojourning in a strange
city he made a practice of arranging with the Surgeon-
General, or other trustworthy expert, to see that life
was absolutely extinct before the interment of his
remains.
CORROBORATION BY THE LANCET.
The Lancet, March 17, 1886, says : — "There are many
apparently trustworthy stories afloat, both in this country
and on the Continent, which favour the belief that
premature interment not only does sometimes take
place, but is really of not so unfrequent occurrence as
might be supposed. Some few believe it to be not an
unlikely event, and break out into a cold perspiration
I9O FEAR OF PREMATURE BURIAL.
at the thought of the possibility of the misfortune
happening to themselves. Others have actually made
provision in their wills that means should be taken, by
cutting off a finger, or making a pectoral incision, etc.,
to excite sensibility, in case any should remain after
their supposed death ; whilst a French countess, in orcler
to escape so terrible a fate, left a legacy to her medical
attendant as a fee for his severance of the carotid artery
in her body before it was committed to the tomb."
Those who are most apprehensive of apparent death
being mistaken for real death are the clergy and other
ministers of religion, and funeral directors — in other
\vords, those who kno\v the most about it.
Let anyone introduce the subject when in company,
and startling cases will Invariably be narrated by one
and another sufficient to shake incredulity, and to
compel us to realise the danger to ourselves, as well
as to all other members of the community, under our
present loose customs in regard to the treatment of
the supposed dead. If this dread of premature burial
is not universal, as some writers and authorities aver,.
it is certainly widely extended ; and the evidence set
before our readers will show that it is by no means
without foundation.
PUBLIC TESTIMONIES.
The Rev. John Kingston, chaplain R.X., writing to-
the (London) Morning Post, September 18, 1895, says—
" The danger of being buried alive appears to be a very
real one ; and I can testify, from my experience as a
clergyman, that a great many persons are haunted by
PUBLIC TESTIMONIES. IQI
the dread of that unspeakably horrible fate." The
writer further expresses a hope that the ventilation of
the subject will be followed by practical results.
While speaking on the subject of premature burials>
in a lecture delivered at Everett Hall, Brooklyn, New
York, June, 1883, Mr. J. D. Beugless, the then President
of the New York Cremation Society, said that an under-
taker in that city (Brooklyn) recently made provision in
his will, and exacted a promise from his wife of great
caution, that his body should be cremated, being induced
thereto by the fear of being buried alive. " Live burials/'
he says, " are far more frequent than most people think."
It is reported that another undertaker of Brooklyn some
time since deposited a body in a receiving vault tempo-
rarily : when he went some days later to remove it for
burial, what was his horror, upon opening the niche in
which the coffin had been placed, to find the body
crouching at the door, stark in death, the hair dis-
hevelled, the flesh of the arms lacerated and torn, and
the face having the most appalling expression of horror
and despair ever witnessed by mortal eyes !
CATALEPSY, OR - - ?
An undertaker, writing to the Plymouth Morning
News, October 2, 1895, mentions that he reluctantly
buried a young person, who lay in the coffin for seven
clear days without sign of decomposition, and only
consented to close the coffin then, on the assurance that
the same conditions attended all the deaths which had
previously occurred in the family. Dr. Hartmann and
other authorities have found that such cases are probably
IQ2 FEAR OF PREMATURE BURIAL.
the subjects of catalepsy, a malady which sometimes runs
in families and affects every member. The undertaker
adds that, in future, he should decline to close the coffin
of the apparently dead until signs of decomposition
set in, " thus preventing the possibility of our worst
fears being realised." If undertakers generally would
adopt these wise and necessary precautions, living
sepulture would come to an end. Under the existing im-
perfect system of medical examination — and, as we have
shown, both in England and in the United States, where
there is usually no examination at all — there is often
a reckless haste in interments. No thoughtful persons
can contemplate the burial of a million and a half
human beings annually in these two countries without
mistrust and misgivings.
As^ recently as the I3th January, 1904, the Paris
correspondent of the London Echo reports a case from
Valence, where a young woman at the village of Fortes
fell into a cataleptic state so deep that it was thought
she was dead.
The usual funeral arrangements were made, and the
friends and relations were taking a last look at the
supposed corpse when it sat up.
The girl appeared terror-stricken at her surroundings,
and leapt from the window to the pavement, three
storev u<flo\* , and was killed on the spot.
SAFEGUARDS IMPERATIVE.
As already pointed out, many well-to-do people in
civilised countries provide in their wills for the pre-
vention of premature interment, by leaving instructions
for surgical operations after their decease, post-mortems,
NECESSITY OF STATE REGULATIONS. 193
embalmment, or cremation. It may happen, however,
that wills are mislaid, lost, or withheld by the testators,
or are not opened and read until after the funeral, when
the instructions in this regard, however strictly enjoined,
are rendered nugatory. Bequests should be given
conditionally on the observance of certain duties, and
only payable on proofs to the executors that they have
been carried out. A large majority of people do not,
however, leave testamentary instructions, for the simple
reason that they have nothing to bequeath. And the
majority have an equal claim with the minority to be
safeguarded by the State against such terrible mis-
fortunes. Syncope, sometimes mistaken for death, is a
condition to which both men and women, who are
compelled by their poverty in all large cities to endure
exhausting labours in ill-ventilated work-rooms, and
their often ill-nourished children in board schools in
England and in the public schools in America, are
peculiarly liable.
In view of the ghastly consequences .which may
result from a mistake that cannot be rectified when
the grave is closed, and in view of the justifiable fear
which is spreading among intelligent persons as to
burial alive, the most stringent State regulations
should assuredly be enforced, so that rich and poor
alike may be effectually safeguarded against this most
awful of human catastrophes.
CHAPTER XII.
SUDDEN DEATH.
POPULAR FALLACY.
THE idea commonly entertained is that with animal
bodies there are only two possible conditions — either
life or death ; that the presence of one of these con-
ditions implies the absence of the other ; that when
the body has assumed the appearance of death, as
during the sudden suspension of all the functional
activities, it must be dead. This last is far from
being true ; for all the appearances of death are
fallacious, especially those that accompany so-called
sudden death. All such cases should be challenged
as of doubtful character, and held so till recover}- or
putrefaction of the tissues proves the presence of life
or of death. This subject is too often treated by
medical writers with indifference. Technically, it is
regarded as a failure of the brain, or lungs, or heart,
to perform their functions ; popularly, we say that
"the thread of life is snapped asunder," or it is
"the going out of life," like the sudden extinguishing
of a candle. Experience, however, teaches that life
leaves the body in a gradual manner, and that death
approaches, and takes the place of life, in one part
or organ after another, thus creeping through the
tissues and sometimes defying all tests to prove its
POPULAR FALLACY. 195
presence, leaving putrefaction to be its only sign.
There can be no such thing as veritable sudden death,
unless the body is crushed into a shapeless mass, like
an insect under foot
AUTHORITATIVE OPINION.
The late Dr. Farr, of the Registrar-General's Depart-
ment, London, says : " No definition of the sense in
which sudden death is practically understood by
coroners has been given." Dr. Granville says : " The
writers on medical jurisprudence do not state with
any strictness what they mean by sudden death,
whether it be death in ten minutes, ten hours, or ten
days." l And he asks in the same vein, " Does sudden
death mean death in three minutes, three hours, or
three days ? " 2 Still further he remarks regarding
the customary definitions, " They lead one to infer
that a certain mysterious principle, called LIFE, has
been instantaneously withdrawn from a healthy and
well-constituted individual, who was at the very
moment, as heretofore, exercising his proper animal
functions with a regularity that promised to endure
for a long continuance of years. . . . No such
phenomena occur in Nature, unless through violence
or from accident. Under Nature's laws there is no
such thing as sudden death. . . . In every case
where death has abruptly cut short the thread of life,
there has been a preparation, more or less antecedent
to the occurrence, which must inevitably have led to
it. ... The victim may seem to have been
1 Dr. A. B. Granville, "Sudden Death," p. 278. 2Ibid., p. 278.
196 SUDDEN DEATH.
struck down, as if by lightning. But in reality the
event was only the natural termination of an inward
state of things which insidiously and unexpectedly
was preparing the blow." L
Dr. Tidy, in '; Legal Medicine," p. 29, says : — " As
a rule, the action required to bring about complete
molecular death — i.e., the suspension of vital activity
in every part — is progressive. In a given case, there-
fore, \ve are unable to state any definite time as the
period of its occurrence. The popular idea of death
is that the entire body dies at once. Somatic death
is an impossibility."
THE POSSIBILITY OF ERROR.
Thus, it is clear that the process of death, or the
•departure of life, may require days or weeks for its
completion ; and it may even be delayed to a time
when putrefaction has set in quite generally, as when
the hair and nails grow after the body has been buried
some weeks, as has been credibly reported. Writers
upon so-called sudden death recite a number of diseases
and conditions which quickly destroy the machinery
that carries on the vital functions, thus rendering resus-
citation quite impossible. Tidy'^ names some twelve of
such causes : prominent among them are diseases of the
heart, rupture of the heart, clots in the blood vessels,
aneurisms, effusions of blood in the brain, bursting of
visceral abscesses, ulcers of the stomach, extra-uterine
pregnancy, rupture of the uterus or bladder, large
1 Dr. A. B. Granville, " Sudden Death," p. 279.
a Tidy, " Legal Medicine/' part i., pp. 279-280.
POSSIBILITY OF ERROR. 197
draughts of cold water taken when the body is heated,
cholera, alcoholic poisoning, mental emotions, etc. But
he remarks upon these causes: "Because a- person dies
suddenly, there being no evidence of violence or poison,
the action adopted by many coroners in not requiring a
post-mortem examination leaves the most important wit-
ness— the dead body itself — unheard, and the inquest so
far valueless." Which may mean that, without the risk
of an autopsy, it is impossible in such cases to determine
whether they are beyond resuscitation or not, unless
putrefaction settles the question. Unfortunately there
is nothing in the external appearance of those cases of
so-called sudden death in which the vital machinery
may be totally wrecked, to distinguish them from those
of apparent death, in which all the organism is in a
state of perfect integrity, and in which resuscitation is
possible, provided the vital principle has not entirely
left the body. Consequently, the only safe rule to
observe in all cases in which death has not followed
poisoning, or injuries which kill outright, or some known
disease of sufficient duration and severity to bring on
dissolution, is to wait for unmistakable evidences of
decomposition before autopsy, embalming, cremation,
or burial is allowed.
In former times precipitate interments of persons who
died suddenly were specially guarded against.
MUCH TAKEN FOR GRANTED.
Nothing is more common, on opening a newspaper,
than to see one or more announcements of sudden
death. These occurrences are so frequent that the
great London dailies, except when an inquest is held,
TQ8 SUDDEN DEATH.
or when the deceased is a person of note, omit to record
them. The narratives are much alike : the person,
described to be in his usual health, is seized with faint-
ness in the midst of his daily avocation, and he falls
down apparently dead ; or he retires for the night, and
is found dead in his bed. In many instances post-
Hiortems are made and an inquest held ; but in other
cases the opinion of the attendant doctor, that the
death is clue to heart-disease, syncope, asphyxia, coma,
apoplexy, or " natural causes," is deemed sufficient.
The friends who are called in to look at the body will
remark, " how natural and how life-like," " how flexible
the limbs," " how placid the face " ; and, without the
faintest attempt at resuscitation, arrangements are made
for an early burial.
DR. WILDER'S VIEWS.
Dr. Alexander Wilder, Professor of Physiology and
Psychology, in a letter to the author, says : " There
are a variety of causes for sudden death. The use of
tobacco is one. Another is overtaxed nervous system.
Men of business keep on the strain till they drop from
sheer exhaustion. At the base of the brain is a little
nerve - ganglion, the medulla oblongata, which, once
impaired, sends death everywhere. Overtaxing the
strength by study and mental stress will do this. The
solar ganglion below the diaphragm is the real vital
focus of the body. It is first to begin, last to die. A
blow on it often kills. An emotion will paralyse it.
Even undue excess at a meal, or the use of overmuch
alcohol, may produce the effect.
DR. WILDER'S VIEWS. 199
" Tobacco impairs the action of the heart. An over-
full stomach may paralyse the ganglionic centre, and
breathing is liable to stop. It is dangerous in such
cases to lie on the back. All these deaths are by
heart-failure." It is syncope where the heart fails first ;
asphyxia where the lungs are first to cease ; coma when
the brain is first at fault. "Natural causes" and "heart-
failure " usually mean, like " congestion," that the
doctor's ideas are vague.
Dr. Wilder continues : — " I would choose such a death
if I could be sure it was death. But most of those things
which I have enumerated may cause a death which is only
apparent!'
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SUDDEN DEATH.
The following briefly extracted cases from English
papers are typical of thousands of others, and can be
duplicated, with slight variation in terms, throughout
the United States. The absolute proof of the reality
of such deaths is not found in hasty diagnosis or in
medical certificates, but in the presence of putre-
faction :—
SUDDEN DEATH— "HEART FAILURE."
"On Wednesday evening last, Mr. A. N. Laughton, High Bailiff,
held an inquest on the body of John Cringle, of Glenmaye.
Deceased was employed as second hand on board the lugger
"Choice," awaiting fair weather before proceeding to Kinsale.
On Tuesday night the deceased went on board the boat about
eleven o'clock, seemingly in good health and the best of spirits,
and instead of going to bed he remained lying on the locker.
Nothing was heard during the night to cause alarm, but the \
cook, on going to rouse him early in the morning, found him
dead. Dr. Cell was sent for, but found he had been dead for
some time.
200 SUDDEN DEATH.
"At the inquest, which was held on Wednesday evening, Dr,
Cell gave evidence, stating that death had been caused by
failure of the heart. The jury returned in accordance with
medical testimony. It seems a great pity that there is not a
proper mortuary in town, but that the body should be placed
anywhere. We think it high time something should be done
to procure one." — Manx Sun, April 4, 1903.
SUDDEN DEATH WHILE PREPARING FOR A WALK.
"A painfully sudden death occurred at Foleshill on Sunday
evening. Mrs. Pearman was preparing to go for a walk. She
went upstairs, leaving some friends below. As she appeared to
be absent rather a long time, and as her movements could not
be heard, someone in the house called to her. No answer was
received, and, on a visit being paid to the bedroom, she was
found lying on the floor dead. The doctor was called, but he
could only pronounce life extinct. Deceased, who was about 6r
years of age, is stated to have been as well as usual lately, and
had not been medically attended for five years." — Midland Daily
Telegraph, April 6, 1903.
SUDDEN DEATH OF A SCHOOLBOY.
"On Thursday morning, a boy named Howard Leslie Pearsonr
aged thirteen years and seven months, the son of Mr. Walter
Ernest Pearson, clerk, residing at 29 York Road, Grays, died
suddenly at his father's residence. It appears that in the morning
deceased went to school apparently in his usual health, but about
half-past eleven he became unwell, and was sent home by the
master. As his condition became worse, medical aid was sum-
moned by the parents, but the poor lad expired before the doctor
arrived."— Essex Times, April 15, 1903.
SUDDEN DEATH— "QUITE WELL.':
"On arriving home at Disley, John Hill discovered his wife
Mary dead in an outhouse. Deceased, who was 50 years of age,
was quite well when her husband left home in the morning. She
ate a good breakfast with her husband on Monday morning, and
then prepared herself to go shopping. Her husband left, and
REPORTS OF SUDDEN DEATHS. 2OI
on returning home, on going to the outbuildings, he found his
wife quite dead. Death is supposed to have taken place from
heart disease or apoplexy." — Manchester Weekly Chronicle, April
1 8, 1903.
SUDDEN DEATH WHEN OUT FOR A WALK.
"About half-past four o'clock on Saturday afternoon, Sutcliffe
Haigh, mill-hand, of No. 2 Bank End, Nettleton Hill, Longwood,
and his wife (Ann Haigh), went to a tea party. After tea they
went for a walk, and about seven o'clock Mrs. Ann Haigh
suddenly fell to the ground. Her husband raised her head on
his knee. She breathed heavily, and died in a few minutes. The
deceased had been in good health." — Huddersfield Examiner,
April 27, 1903.
SUDDEN DEATH— " NATURAL CAUSES."
"A Guiseley reservist named George Gedgeington, employed by
the Midland Railway Company, was found dead in bed yester-
day morning. The previous evening he had retired to rest in
apparently the best of health. Medical opinion was that death
was due to natural causes. He was 29 years of age." — Leeds
Mercury, April 27, 1903.
SUDDEN DEATH OF A CHILD.
"A girl named Agnes Dennis, residing with her parents in
Coatbridge, was discovered dead in bed last night. The girl was
in the best of health, and during the night had not complained.
Dr. Cordiner saw the body, and attributed death to natural causes."
— Glasgow Evening Times, May 5, 1903.
SUDDEN DEATH—" IN GOOD HEALTH."
"A painfully sudden death occurred to Mr. Thomas G. Ginns,
the steward of the Working Men's Club, early on Wednesday
morning. Ginns, who was at play at cricket on Tuesday after-
noon, was in excellent spirits, and appeared all right, and attended
to his duties up to closing time as usual. He went to bed
apparently in as good health as usual." — Northampton Daily
Reporter, June 3, 1903.
2O2 SUDDEN DEATH.
SUDDEN DEATH— "SYNCOPE."
"The death of Mr. William Murray Maxton, chemist, Abbey
Corner, Kelso, occurred very suddenly on Saturday last. De-
ceased, who was a man of middle age, was in his usual health and
at business on the previous day, and next morning he was found
dead in bed. A short time ago he sustained a slight injury to one
of his arms, but it is not thought that this contributed in any way
to his death, which was, we understand, attributed to syncope. "-
Kclso Mail, July 2, 1903.
SUDDEN DEATH — "NATURAL CAUSES."
"The sudden death of Mrs. Ruth Shepherd, formerly of Deer-
play, occurred on Monday evening. Deceased appeared in good
health about nine o'clock the same evening, and was standing in
the farmyard when she was taken suddenly ill, and nearly fell to
the ground. She was carried into the house, and the doctor sent
for, but she died at 10.30, in the presence of two neighbours who
had been called in. When Dr. Helm arrived, he pronounced life
extinct, and attributed the cause of death to a stroke. On Wednes-
day noon an inquest was held at Deerplay Inn, before Mr. J.
Robinson, Mr. Atkinson being foreman of the jury. A verdict
of death from natural causes was returned." — Rossendale Free
Press, July 4, 1903.
SUDDEN DEATH — "NATURAL CAUSES."
"A young woman named Florence ^Matilda Evans, aged
eighteen, who lives with her parents in 4 Constellation Street,
Cardiff, died under remarkable circumstances on Friday night.
She went to bed about a quarter past ten, apparently in good
health. She did not complain of feeling unwell, and had not
been attended by a doctor. Yet, three-quarters of an hour later,
her mother went into the bedroom and found her dead. It
was a great shock to Mrs. Evans, who had no suspicion that
her daughter was ailing. Dr. Blight, of Newport Road, was
immediately called in, and examined the body. The probability
is that death was due to natural causes." — South Wales Daily
News, August 3, 1903.
REPORTS OF SUDDEN DEATHS. 2O3
SUDDEN DEATH WHILST AT WORK.
"'The death is recorded of Henry Ridley, a twister, about 37
years of age, who lived at 4 Marpeth Street. He was a single
man, and for the last seven years had been healthy and worked
regularly. Yesterday afternoon, whilst at work at a mill in
Trafalgar Street, he was seen to fall from his stool, and, when
picked up, life was found to be extinct." — Blackburn Star, Sep-
tember 4, 1903.
SUDDEN DEATH— "SYNCOPE OR APOPLEXY."
" Mr. Hill' attended at Hebden Bridge for the purpose of inquir-
ing into the circumstances attending the death of Mrs. Amos
Crossley.
"Amos Crossley, carter, Mitchell Street, Fairfield, said deceased
was his wife, and was 36 years of age. She had enjoyed very good
health. She never had attacks of fainting. Her breathing had
not been at all troublesome. He last saw her alive about seven
o'clock on Thursday morning, when they had breakfast together.
She seemed very well then.
"Robert Newbury West, locum tcnens to Dr. Cairns, said that
he was called to see deceased about half-past twelve, and he
found her laid on the floor when he arrived. She was quite dead.
There was congestion round the neck, and the lips were livid.
That pointed to hemorrhage on the brain, or apoplexy.
"The Coroner — She was rather young for that ?
"Witness — She was young, certainly, but there might be diseased
arteries. The circumstances pointed to syncope or apoplexy, but
from the appearance of the deceased the latter was the more
probable. He did not notice whether she had anything in her
mouth or not.
"The jury returned a verdict that deceased died from natural
causes, probably apoplexy." — Todmorden News, September 18,
1903.
SUDDEN DEATH— "No INQUEST NECESSARY."
" Mr. John Jones, a contractor employed at Messrs. Bowers'
works, Ruabon, died suddenly on Wednesday. On the previous
204 SUDDEN DEATH.
day he had been in excellent health. Death being attributed to
failure of the heart's action, no inquest was deemed necessary. "-
Liverpool Daily Post, September 25, 1903.
SUDDEN DEATH— " ROBUST HEALTH."
"On the iQth March, 1903, Johnnie Williams, of Taiteg, aged
ten, went to school as usual, apparently enjoying robust health.
Soon he complained of being unwell, and began to vomit. The
schoolmaster sent him home, and he was put to bed, and soon
died from failure of the heart. Dr. Lloyd was summoned, but he
arrived after life became extinct." — -North Wales Times, Denbigh,,
November 28, 1903.
SUDDEN DEATH— A CURIOUS COINCIDENCE.
"A death, exceedingly painful in its suddenness, occurred at
Astley Bridge on Saturday. The deceased was a young woman
named Leah Elizabeth Stables, 21 years of age, a weaver, of Eden
Street. She arrived home from work at noon that day, and com-
plained of a bad headache. She took two pills that she had been
accustomed to having, and then said she would have a rest, and
proceeded upstairs. At 2.30 her married sister went to her room,
when she complained of feeling rather cold, and asked that some
more clothes should be placed upon her. Her sister did as
requested, and then left her. About four o'clock the latter went
upstairs again to awaken her to go to a party, and was shocked to
find her lying dead on the bed in the same position that she had
left her. Two doctors were called in, but could, of course,
render no assistance. Deceased had evidently passed away in her
sleep. She had previously had good health, except that she had
headaches. It is a curious coincidence that deceased's brother
aged seventeen, previously died in the same way, about nine years,
ago, a verdict of heart disease being returned at the inquest.
An inquest was held by Mr. John Fearnley, Deputy Borough
Coroner, on Monday afternoon, at the Lamb Inn, Astley Bridge,
in reference to this death. There was no sign of her having had a
fit — she looked as if only asleep. She had never complained of
any heart ailment, but she had had headaches previously, for
which she had taken pills similar to those she used on Saturday.
REPORTS OF SUDDEN DEATH. 2O5
Deceased had always been healthy, except having an ulcerated leg
some time ago. A juror said he saw deceased on Friday, and
she then looked in the 'pink of condition.' The Coroner was of
opinion that death arose from sudden failure of the heart's action ;
but if the jury desired further evidence there might be a post-
mortem examination. The jury, however, considered this unneces-
sary, and returned a verdict of ' Natural causes — probably heart
failure.' It transpired at the inquiry that a sister of the deceased
had also died suddenly, as well as the brother." — Bolton Chronicle,
December 2, 1903.
SUDDEN DEATH IN SLEEP— "NATURAL CAUSES."
"The sudden death of James Studd, a horseman in the employ
of the Ipswich Corporation, who lived at 29 Fitzroy Street, was
the subject of investigation by the Borough Coroner, on Monday
evening, at the Crown Street Church Schoolroom. The deceased
man was following his ordinary occupation on Saturday up till
half-past one o'clock, when he left off for the day. From that time
he did not leave his house, but was quite well. He went to bed
about a quarter past nine. When his wife followed, a little
later, he seemed to be asleep. The same was the case when Mrs.
Studd got up in the morning at eight o'clock, and, thinking her
husband was in a good sleep, she did not speak to him. When,
however, she called him to breakfast, and could get no answer, her
suspicions were aroused. On going upstairs, she looked at him
and touched him, but he did not move. She therefore called in
William Flory, who lives close by, and is also employed by the
Corporation, who confirmed her worst fears, namely, that her
husband had died in his sleep. Mr. Frank Adams, surgeon,
attributed death to natural causes, probably heart failure. The
Coroner having said that after the medical testimony there was
no need for further evidence, the jury returned a verdict of ' Death
from natural causes.'" — East Anglian Times, December 22, 1903.
SUDDEN DEATH— "EPILEPSY- NATURAL CAUSES."
" This evening an inquest was held by Mr. Reece, Cardiff
District Coroner, on the body of Catherine Pyburn, eighteen years
206 SUDDEN DEATH.
of age, of 46 Helen Street. Deceased, who had been a healthy-
young woman, was suddenly taken ill on the morning of Christmas
Day. Dr. Corrigan was called in, and found her in an unconscious
condition, and she died shortly afterwards in an epileptic fit. A
verdict of 'Death from natural causes' was returned." — South
Wales Daily Echo, December 28, 1903.
SUDDEN DEATH — "INQUEST NOT NECESSARY."
" Yesterday morning a blacksmith named Edward Whelan, aged
between 40 and 50 years, expired very suddenly at his forge in
Glasslough Street, Monaghan. The deceased had been working
all morning, and at about nine o'clock took a vomiting fit. Dr.
James Henry was soon on the scene, but Whelan, who seemed a
healthy and robust man, did not rally, and died in a few minutes.
An inquest was not considered necessary.'"' — Belfast Newsletter.,
December 29, 1903.
SUDDEN DEATH — "SOME NATURAL CAUSE."
"A little girl named Christinia Brown, of Newcombe Street,.
Newcastle, died suddenly on Wednesday night. She was only
nine years of age, and was looked upon as a healthy child. But
whilst playing in the back lane, near her parents' house, she
suddenly fell to the ground, and on being picked up was found to-
be dead. At an inquest on the body last night it was stated that
nothing had ever ailed the girl. The jury returned a verdict to the
effect that deceased had died from some natural cause, probably
heart disease." — Newcastle Daily Chronicle, January 23, 1904.
SUDDEN DEATH — "AFTER FAINTING."
" Yesterday afternoon, a storeman named Joseph Boyd, aged 33
years, of Howe Street, Bootle, who was in the employ of Eller-
man's Limited, shipowners, died suddenly on a tramcar in Derby-
Road. It appears that when he boarded the car at Bankhall he
was in good health. Shortly afterwards he fainted, and was
conveyed to the Bootle Hospital, and on being examined by
Dr. Laird life was found to be extinct." — Liverpool Daily
February 27, 1904.
NEED OF STRINGENT PRECAUTION. 2O/
SUDDEN DEATH — "BEST OF HEALTH."
" Early yesterday morning, Mr. J. Aird was found dead in bed at
the Royal George Hotel, Crewkerne. He had given instructions
for his hot water, which was put outside his bedroom. On the
1 boots ' going up to the room, about an hour afterwards, he
found Mr. Aird dead. Deceased travelled for a firm of wholesale
druggists. He appeared to be in the best of health on retiring
to rest on Tuesday night." — Devon Daily Gazette, April 7, 1904.
The foregoing are given simply as typical examples
of a class of cases of which thousands might be cited,
but it has not been thought necessary to weary the
reader with the details of further instances.
While it is not suggested that the foregoing are cases
of premature burial, yet it is absolutely certain that they
belong to the category of persons of whom a consider-
able percentage are liable to such misadventures, unless
precautions very different from those in vogue are taken
to prevent them. All medical practitioners allow that
a man may be half drowned or half dead, and that
cases of suspended animation occur where the most
experienced physician is unable to detect the faintest
indication of breathing or cardiac movement. They are,
however, quite sceptical as to absolute suspensions of
life where all the ordinary methods to test its existence
fail ; and, owing to this scepticism, and the readiness to
give certificates of death in cases of alleged sudden
death, have unwittingly promoted premature burials, as
will appear by the facts quoted in these pages.
CONDEMNATION OF HASTY BURIAL.
Mr. M. Cooper, in the " Uncertainty of the Signs
of Death," p. 49, cites from a letter by one William
208 SUDDEN DEATH.
Fabri, a surgeon, the opinion that we ..." have
just reason to condemn the too precipitate interment
of persons overpowered by lethargies, apoplexies, or
suffocation of the matrix ; for I know there have been
some, supposed to be irretrievably cut off by these
disorders, who, resuming strength and returning to life,
have raised the boards of their own coffins, because in
such disorders the soul only retires, as it were, to her
most secret and concealed residence, in order to make
the body afterwards sensible that she had not entirely
forsaken it." These wise counsels were written two
hundred and sixty-eight years ago, since which time
thousands of our fellow-creatures have, it is feared, been
the victims of premature interment, and yet the danger
then pointed out remains. The Undertakers' and
Funeral Directors' Journal, the conductors of which
are laudably anxious to keep their profession from the
odium of burying people alive, referring to sudden
deaths and this danger, says, in its issue of January
24, 1894, under the head of "A Burning Question" : —
" Sufferers from such chronic ailments as are reputed
to end suddenly are in constant danger from the pre-
sent state of the law, if they are in the hands of people
interested in their death." And continues : " Even
where a medical certificate is obtained, such general
laxity has entered into proceedings that but little pro-
tection is thereby afforded to the public. While the
medical man is bound to state what he believes to be
the cause of death, he is under no obligation to make
sure either that the patient is dead at all, or that, if
dead, he died from a particular disease for which he
was attending him."
FRENCH REPORT. 2OQ
FRENCH REPORT AND ENGLISH CRITICISM.
Dr. Alfred Swayne Taylor, in his standard work on
*' Medical Jurisprudence," writing of a petition which
on one occasion was presented to the French Chamber
of Deputies, wherein the petitioner declared he had
known six interments of living persons to have taken
place within a period of eight months, adds that Carre
notified no less than forty- six cases of premature burial.
<f Among these, twenty-one persons returned to life at
the time they were about to be deposited in the earth t
nine recovered owing to the affectionate attentions of
their relations, four from the accidental falling of the
coffins, two from a feeling of suffocation in their coffins,
three from the puncture of pins in fastening the shrouds,
and seven from unusual delay in the funerals; and, it is
added, the decease of all these individuals was officially
attested."
The author, in commenting on the above, says :—
" Statements of this kind can only be received with
incredulity, since no particulars by which their accuracy
•can be tested are given, . . . but if the account given
by Carre be true, ... it is doubtful whether greater
negligence could have been shown than that which is
here alleged to have occurred on the part of the French
officials in modern times."
There is no sufficient ground, as far as one can see,
for treating the statement of Carre' with " incredulity."
Had the French authorities troubled themselves to
investigate these deliberate circumstantially-stated par-
ticulars furnished by a writer of repute, they could have
done so ; but evidently this dense atmosphere of " in-
credulity," which is the very curse of official life and of
210 SUDDEN DEATH.
medical orthodoxy, blinded French officialdom to the
terrible possibilities which their own system of burial
entailed. One would have thought that their own
French proverb, // riy a point de fumee sans feu,
would have warned them of the necessity of careful
investigation into such striking particulars.
But, as to the " negligence of French officials," which,
if true, was manifested by these statements, the English
author of " Medical Jurisprudence " may be reminded of
his own admission that not even an "official" is held
responsible for attestation of death in this country, and
that probably nine-tenths of the medical certificates of
death in Great Britain are given without the certifier
ever personally satisfying himself by a visit of the reality
of the alleged death. In the face of such a fact, the
affectation of " incredulity," and the sneer at " the idle
tales of ignorant and superstitious persons," are con-
siderably discounted.
LEGALLY "DEAD," BUT STILL LIVING.
The Medical Times and Gazette, 1859, vol. xviii.y
p. 256, has the following: —
"We find in an account taken from the 'Boston Medical and
Surgical Journal' some observations on the heart of a hanged
criminal, which are remarkable in a moral point of view, as well as
in their scientific aspect. The man died, it appears, as the phrase
is, without a struggle ; and, therefore, probably in the first instance
he fell into a syncope. The lungs and brain were found normal.
Seven minutes after suspension, the heart's sounds were distinctly
heard, its pulsations being one hundred a minute; two minutes-
later they were ninety-eight ; and in three minutes sixty, and very
feeble. In two minutes more the sounds became inaudible. The
man was suspended at ten o'clock, and his body was cut down
A GHASTLY INSTANCE. 211
twenty-five minutes afterwards. There was then neither sound
nor impulse. At 10.40 the cord was relaxed, and then the face
became gradually pale; the spinal cord was uninjured. ... At
1 1. 30 a regular movement of pulsation was observed in the right
subclavian vein ; and, on applying the ear to the chest, there was
heard a regular, distinct, and single beat, accompanied with a
slight impulse. Hereupon Drs. Clark, Ellis, and Shaw open the
thorax, and expose the heart, which still continues to beat ! The
right auricle contracted and dilated with energy and regularity.
At twelve o'clock the pulsations were forty in a minute; at 1.45
five per minute. They ceased at 2.45 ; but irritability did not
entirely disappear until 3.18, more than five hours after suspension.
'This fact,3 says M. Sequard, 'demonstrates that in a man, un-
fortunately, even when syncope exists for some minutes at the
commencement of strangulation, the ventricles of the heart cease to
beat almost as quickly as they do in strangulation without syncope/
With regard to the moral aspects of this case, the same gentleman
remarks : — ' People will probably be surprised that the body of
this man should have been opened while the beating of the heart
was still audible. We will not ask here if the doctors committed
or not a blamable action ; we will only say that we know them
personally, and that if they have in part merited the violent re-
proaches addressed to them, they are, nevertheless, hommes de
coeiir, who, in an excess of scientific zeal, did not notice that the
body upon which they experimented was not, perhaps, at the time
a dead body.' "
The above is a ghastly instance of how syncope —
that is, the temporary failure of the heart's action-
simulating death, may lead to the most revolting
consequences. Let us examine this further.
SYNCOPE.
The deaths attributed to syncope in the Registrar-
General's reports for England and Wales from 1888 to*
1893 are : —
212 SUDDEN DEATH.
YEAR. MALES. FEMALES.
1888 Si/ 896
1889 939 922
1890 1,237 1,250
1891 i,355 i.iSoi
1892 941 943
1893 848 770
From 1894 t° 1900 we record the total deaths from
^ Syncope " and the total " Sudden Deaths " where the
-causes have been unascertained : —
SUDDEN
YEAR. SYNCOPE. DEATHS.
1894 1,564 285
1895 l^I 301
1896 1,609 31/
1897 I j6l3 2O4
1898 1,471 199
1899 1,224 212
1900 883 244
Syncope, however, is not a disease, though often certified
as such, but is merely a symptom of certain maladies, or
a manifestation of suspended animation from unascer-
tained cause. In Hoblyn's " Dictionary of Medical
Terms," p. 632, syncope is described as — " Fainting or
swoon ; a sudden suspension of the heart's action,
accompanied by cessation of the functions of the
organs of respiration, internal and external sensation,
and voluntary motion." There appears, therefore, every
probability that, with careless or ignorant medical prac-
titioners, syncope is not seldom mistaken for trance, and
a certificate of death may be given where there is merely
SYNCOPE.
a suspension and not a termination of life ; and this
probability is reduced to a certainty when we learn the
number of premature burials and narrow escapes re-
ported by Winslow, Bruhier, Koppen, E. Bouchut,
Lenormand, F. Kempner, Moore Russell Fletcher,
Gannal, Gaubert, Hartmann, and other recognised
authorities. Dr. James Curry, Senior Physician to
Guy's Hospital, and Lecturer on the Theory and
Practice of Medicine, in the introduction to his " Ob-
servations on Apparent Death," London, 1815, 2 ed.v
p. i, says: "The time is still within the recollection
of many now living when it was almost universally
believed that life quitted the body in a very few
minutes after the person had ceased to breathe. Re-
markable examples to the contrary were, indeed, upon
record ; but these, besides being extremely rare, were
generally cases wherein the suspension, as well as the
recovery of life, had occurred spontaneously ; they were,
therefore, beheld with astonishment, as particular in-
stances of Divine Interposition."
MISTAKES BURIED UNDERGROUND.
It is believed that the majority of the members of the
medical profession still entertain the idea that a human
being is dead when breathing can no longer be detected,
as in the cases of reported sudden deaths ; and, except
in those which occur from drowning, or suffocation
through noxious gases, attempts are very rarely made
to promote restoration, and, unless they return to life
spontaneously while above ground, there are good
reasons to fear that an appreciable number do so under
ground. The prevailing belief in the existence of
214 SUDDEN DEATH.
sudden deaths is one of the chief causes of the terrible
mistakes that lead to live burials. If this delusive idea
were removed, those concerned, such as physicians,
undertakers, relatives, and friends, would treat a person
who unexpectedly took on the appearance of death as
one needing careful attention by physician and nurse
to bring him round to health again, as is usually clone
in cases of fainting. If trance were understood, doctors
would be on the lookout for it ; but, as it is not under-
stood, it is called death, and we bury our mistakes
underground.
Dr. Hilton Fagge, while doubting whether there is
any foundation for the strong fear which many persons
entertain of being buried alive after supposed death,
allows that there is danger in cases of sudden death.
In his "Principles and Practice of Medicine," Dr. Fagge
says : " The cases really requiring caution are some
very few instances of persons found in the streets, or
losing consciousness unexpectedly and in unusual cir-
cumstances."1
Dr. Leonce Lenormand, in " Des Inhumations Pre-
cipitees," p. 86, says that medical archives record details
of a great number of apoplectic cases revived after one,
two, and three days' apparent death ; and observes that
the most celebrated physicians, both ancient and modern,
agree in recommending delay in the burial of persons
who succumb to this affliction.
1 In the 3rd ed., by Dr. Pye Smith, the following occurs at p. 817 of
vol. i., under "Trance": — "These are the cases which have led to the
popular belief that death is sometimes only apparent, and that there may
be a danger of persons being buried alive ; and it cannot be denied that a
patient in such a condition might easily be allowed to die by careless or
ignorant attendants, or might be buried before death."
" DEAD "— BUT CONSCIOUS. 215
MEDICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF " SUDDEN DEATH."
Dr. Franz Hartmann, in his "Premature Burial," p. n,
quotes the following : —
" In the Bukovina, a young woman, in the vicinity of Radautz,
<iied of spasms of the heart. They waited five days for the
funeral, because no signs of putrefaction appeared. The clergy-
man then refused any longer delay, and the final arrangements
for interment were made. Just as they were about to put the
coffin into the grave, the sister of the deceased woman, who lived
at another place, arrived, and begged to be permitted to see the
dead body. Owing to her entreaties the coffin was opened, and
as the woman saw the unaltered features of her sister, she asserted
her belief that the supposed dead was still living. She procured
a red-hot poker, and, in spite of the remonstrances of those
present, she touched with it the soles of the feet of the corpse.
There was a spasmodic jerk, and the woman recovered. The
most remarkable thing was that the supposed dead woman had
not been unconscious for a moment, but was able to describe
afterwards all the details of what had taken place around her, from
the moment when she was supposed to die up to the time of her
recovery ; but she had looked upon all that like an unconscious
spectator, and not experienced any sensation, nor was she able to
give any sign of life."
In " Les Signes de la Mort," by Dr. E. Bouchut,
p. 51, Dr. J. Schmid is cited for the case of a girl,
seven years of age, who, while playing with her com-
panions, fell suddenly down (as if struck by lightning),
and died. There was paleness, absence of pulse, in-
sensibility to all stimulus. Nevertheless, owing to
the requests of the distressed parents, the apparently
hopeless attempts at resuscitation were continued.
After three-quarters of an hour the girl gave a sigh
and recovered.
2l6 SUDDEN DEATH.
The Medical Record, New York, 1883, vol., xxiii.^
p. 236, contains a paper on " Revivification " (in cases
of sudden apparent death from heart disease, and in
the still-born), by S. Waterman, M.D., New York.
Case I, February, 1880. — Mr. B , aged 84, suffered
from valvular disease of the heart, and likewise from
Bright's disease. " One morning, while I was sitting
at his bedside, and in friendly conversation with him,
he being to all appearance in a very happy mood of
mind, he suddenly fell back, his eyes became fixed
and glassy, a deadly pallor crept over his counten-
ance, respiration and the heart's action ceased simul-
taneously, and death seemed to have carried him
off suddenly and unexpectedly. It was this sudden-
ness of the event that impelled me to make efforts at
revivification. Two nephews of Mrs. B— — , who were
fortunately in the house, were brought under requisi-
tion, and, under my direction, systematic artificial
movements were carried on for nearly thirty minutes,
when one deep inspiratory effort was made by the
patient himself. Thus encouraged, we redoubled our
efforts for ten minutes more ; other inspiratory efforts
followed in quicker succession ; the heart began to
respond. Hardly audible at first, it acquired force and
momentum ; it could now be felt at the wrist ; the
deadly pallor passed away, the eyes lost their glassy,
fixed aspect, sighs and groans could be heard, twitch-
ings of the muscles of the arm and fingers could be
distinctly felt, and the appearances of death made
way for reanimated conditions. He lay unconscious
for more than ten hours, respiration being hurried,
and breathing stertorous, the heart's action wild and
" REVIVICATION." 2 1 /
irregular. During the night he was delirious and
restless ; toward morning all untoward symptoms
subsided, and a quiet sleep followed the extreme rest-
lessness. . . . He died six weeks afterwards, under
symptoms of uraemic toxication. During these six
weeks he had several other attacks — one very prolonged
and almost fatal — in which artificial respiration was
resorted to with the same success."
AN EDITOR'S EXPERIENCE.
The editor of the Manchester Criterion, December 1 1 ,
1895, says: — "Many cases of sudden death have been
entombed who were really alive, so far as the union of
the body and soul is concerned. Sudden disappearance
of life is very common, due to excessive weakness or
a partial cessation of the heart's action ; and doctors
should be very chary in giving death certificates until
it has been ascertained that decomposition has ensued.
Many object to this delay, and on the approach of an
indication of death, or apparent death, often hurry the
body to the grave. We know of a young lady, for
whom the shroud was bought, and the crape fastened
on the door, who was restored to life."
A REAL PERIL.
Professor Alexander Wilder, M.D., in " Perils of
Premature Burial," p. 16, says : — " In this country
(America), however, the peril of interment before death
has actually taken place is very great. For years past
it has been a very common occurrence for persons in
supposed good health to fall down suddenly, with every
appearance of having died. We do not regard sudden
15 -
2l8 SUDDEN DEATH.
death with terror, as it is so often painless, and exempts
the individual from the anxiety and other unpleasant
experiences which so often accompany a lingering
dissolution. But there is a terrible liability of being
prostrated by catalepsy, the counterpart of death, under
such circumstances that those who have the body in
charge will not hesitate about a prompt interment."
" The difficulty of distinguishing a person apparently
dead from one who is really so has, in all countries
where bodies are interred precipitately, rendered it
necessary for the law to assist humanity. Of several
regulations made on this subject, a few of the most
recent may suffice — such as those of Arras in 1772 ; of
Mantua in 17/4; of the Grand Duke of Tuscany in
1775 ; of the Senechaussee of Sivrai in Poitou in 1777 ;
and of the Parliament of Metz in the same year. . . .
These edicts forbid the precipitate interment of persons
who die suddenly. Magistrates of health are to be in-
formed, that physicians may examine the body; that
they may use every endeavour to recall life, if possible,
or to discover the cause of death."-- Encyclopaedia
Britannica, quoted by John Snart in " Apparent Death,"
1824, pp. 81, 82.
CHAPTER XIII.
SIGNS OF DEATH.
THE ancient philosopher Democritus averred that there
was no certain sign of the cessation of life. With this
view many authorities have since coincided. Certainly,
no one sign is in itself sufficient proof of death, unless
it be that of putrefaction. It is rather by a combination
of signs that the fact may be ascertained prior to the
putrefaction stage ; but how far the investigator may be
misled will be seen in the following pages.
POPULAR FALLACY.
There exists a common belief that if breathing and
pulsation cease for only a brief period it will be impos-
sible for consciousness to be recovered, and a trifling
experiment, such as feeling the pulse at the wrist, or
holding a mirror to the face, is sufficient to create the
belief in the popular mind that death has really taken
place.
" Lend me a looking-glass;
If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,
Why, then, she lives." — King Lear, act v., scene 3.
But whilst it would appear presumptuous to attempt to
doubt or deny a theory so widely accepted by both the
lay and medical world, yet numerous well-attested facts
conclusively show that such vital actions may be sus-
pended, and may even resist the most rigorous tests
known to science, only to be followed by the recovery
of the sleeper.
220 SIGNS OF DEATH.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF APPARENT DEATH.
Dr. S. Weir Mitchell l describes the following : —
" I saw, very many years ago, a handsome girl, twenty
years of age, from Cincinnati, who had spells of appa-
rent death, if I may use such a term. One of these I
had the good fortune to see, and, indeed, to cause
The young lady happened to be particularly sensitive
to odours, and even discussion about the subject would
induce an attack. Hystero-epilepsy in this case had
given place to ' death spells,' as her friends called them.
She said to me: ' I am going to have an attack; feel my
pulse. In a few minutes I shall be dead!' The pulse,,
which just before was about 100, was now racing and
quite countless, while the irregularity and violence of
the heart's action seemed inconceivable. With the in-
terest of a hysterical woman in her own performances,
she said to me: 'Now, watch it; you will be amazed.'
This certainly was the case. Within a few minutes the
pulse began to fall in number, and, as well as I can
recall it, in some fifteen minutes was beating only 40.
Then a beat would drop out here and there, the pulse
meanwhile growing feebler, until I could no longer feel
it nor hear the heart. In this state of seeming death-
white, still, without breathing or any perceptible cir-
culation— this girl lay from two to four days. In this
time there were spells of a few minutes during which
the heart beat again furiously and irregularly, as was
also the case when she revived."
Sir B. W. Richardson relates a case observed in 1869
1 " Lectures on Diseases of the Nervous System, especially in Women.'"
Second edition, 1885, p. 245.
•
A PHYSICIAN'S EXPERIENCE. 221
by Dr. Jackson, of Somerby. A man was struck by
lightning while driving; he reached his home in a state
of great prostration, in which he lay for a long time,
and then sank into such complete catalepsy that he
was pronounced to be dead, and was laid out as a
corpse. He actually heard the sound of his own
passing bell, and by a desperate effort moved one of
his thumbs, thus attracting the attention of the women
around him. He recovered, and lived for some time.
One of the most distinguished physicians in London
informed the author that, being called in to decide a
case of apparent or real death, he had applied the
stethoscope and failed to detect the faintest pulsation
in the heart, and yet the woman recovered. The
danger of premature burial he believed to be very real
and by no means an imaginary one, and his opinions
were well known in the profession.
THE MOBILITY TEST.
It has been deemed a sure sign of death, when
for a considerable period no physical movement takes
place ; and also when the lower jaw falls directly
afterwards. There are, however, fallacies connected
with this. Many physical changes may take place
after death consequent upon muscular contraction or
relaxation, as well as by the generation of gases ; and
the jaw may be fixed as in strychnine poisoning.
Upon the other hand, in certain cataleptic conditions
movements are quite imperceptible for considerable
periods.
Even electric stimulation, one of the tests of life
mentioned by Sir B. W. Richardson in his list quoted
222 SIGNS OF DEATH.
on page 232 is not to be relied upon, as electric
excitability usually lasts for some hours after death.
Again, concerning clenched jaws, the Lancet, 1870,
vol. i., p. 436, quotes a statement by A. de Labordette,
Chirurgien de 1'Hopital de Lisieux, in a letter to the
Secretary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution : —
" I have collected manifold observations relating to
persons drowned or asphyxiated, in whose case con-
traction of the jaws was remarked, and who were
subsequently restored to life." Dr. Brown Sequard
concurred in this, and declared further that such
contraction is rather a sign of life than of death.
With these contradictions, the mobility test may be
considered worthless.
THE RESPIRATORY TEST.
This is perhaps the least satisfactory test, the
custom of holding a mirror before the mouth, already
referred to, being quite untrustworthy.
Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, in his paper on
" The Absolute Signs and Proofs of Death," in the
Asdepiad, No. 21 (1889), vol. vi., p. 6, says:—
" About the existence of respiratory movements
there is always some cause for doubt, even amongst
skilled observers ; for so slight a movement of res-
piration is sufficient to carry on life, at what I have
in another paper designated ' life at low tension/
that the most practised eye is apt to be deceived."
" The cessation of the indications of respiratory
function, although useful in a general sense, is not
by any means reliable. It is quite certain that in
THE RESPIRATORY TEST. 223
poisoning by chloral, and in catalepsy, there may be
life when no external movement of the chest is
appreciable." — Ibidem, pp. 13, 14.
HEART AND CIRCULATION TEST.
" Equal doubt attends the absence of the arterial
pulsations and heart sounds. It is quite certain that
the pulses of the body, as well as the movements
and sounds of the heart, may be undetectable at a time
when the body is not only not dead but actually
recoverable." — Ibidem, p. 14.
Bouchut found that his original statement made
to the Academy of Science, to the effect that an
interruption of the action of the heart lasting for two
minutes was a certain proof of death, was incorrect.
He thinks the heart should be listened to for half-
an-hour. Dr. Brouardel, in commenting upon this,
says1: — "You cannot listen to a heart for half-an-hour
continuously. Try to do so ; in five or six minutes
you will hear buzzing and murmurs of all sorts, and
at last you will hear the beating of your own heart.
. . . . The absence of the beats of the heart may
be considered as a sign of apparent death, but not
of real death."
In a review of several works. on the " Signs of Death "
in The British and Foreign Medical and Chirurgical
Review, vol. xv. [1855], p. 74, W. B. Kesteven writes:
" M. Josat has recorded several instances wherein
newly-born children have been most carefully examined
during several minutes without the detection of the
1 "Death and Sudden Death," p. 15.
224 SIGNS OF DEATH.
slightest cardiac sound or movement, and yet these
have rallied and lived. M. Depaul has collected ten
similar instances. M. Brachet has recorded1 an instance
of a man in whom neither sound nor movement of
the heart could be heard for eight minutes, and who
nevertheless survived. Another adult case is mentioned
by Dr. Josat as having been witnessed by M. Girbal,
of Montpellier. . . . Sir B. Brodie and others have
described children born without hearts. The circulation
is maintained at one period of human life without
the aid of the heart. It is, besides, quite consistent
with the facts observed in hysterical and other con-
ditions of the nervous system, that the action of the
heart, like that of other muscles, should be so extremely
feeble as not to be cognisable by any sound or impulse,
and yet it may have sufficient movement slowly to move
the blood through the system, whose every function and
endowment is suspended and all but annihilated. In
cases of catalepsy, and of authentic instances of apparent
death, the respiratory muscles have not been seen to
move, yet inspiration and expiration — however slowly
and imperceptibly — must have taken place."
RIGOR MORTIS TEST.
By rigor mortis is meant that condition of rigidity
which sets in after death, and which is frequently of
so marked a character that it is impossible to flex the
limbs, and the body may be lifted like a plank of
wood. It may, however, be so slightly marked as to
escape the most careful observation. In exhaustive
^Bulletin Therap. fifed., tome xxvii., p. 371.
RIGOR MORTIS TEST. 225
illnesses, or after great fatigue, rigor mortis appears
early and does not last long, but in the case of persons
dying while in good health its onset is delayed and
its duration much longer. Its causes and mode of
production are practically unknown.
Dr. Roger S. Chew observes : — " Rigor mortis is a
condition that seldom or never supervenes in the hot
weather in India, and is often a feature of catalepsy."
In persons dying of sunstroke, the rigidity comes on
very late. When a corpse is kept in a warm and
moist atmosphere, rigor mortis is usually early and short.
The danger of mistaking the rigidity of a cataleptic
condition for the rigidity of death has been pointed
out by Ebenezer Milner, M.D. Edin., L.R.C.S.E., in the
Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, 1850, vol.
Ixxiv., p. 330, where he says, " Patients labouring under
an intense and prolonged paroxysm of catalepsy have
been supposed to be dead, and have been buried
alive"; and, in speaking of severe cases, says, "The
stiffness of the limbs accompanying this intense form
of trance supervenes at once, and lasts as long as the
paroxysm continues."
THE DIAPHANOUS TEST.
This was considered at one time of such importance
that the French Academy awarded a prize for its
discovery. Its actual value has been well gauged by
Edwin Haward, M.D. Edin., F.R.C.S. Eng., in the
Lancet of June 10, 1893, p. ip*f:-*fif€) «u^ \^0l|
" The diaphanous test consists in taking a hand of a
supposed dead person, placing it before a strong arti-
ficial light, with the fingers extended and just touching
226 SIGNS OF DEATH.
each other, and then looking through the narrow spaces
between the fingers to see if there be there a scarlet
line of light. The theory is that if there be such a
line of scarlet colour there is some circulation still in
progress, and therefore evidence of vital action, whilst if
there be no illumination, then the circulation has ceased,
and death has occurred. The illustration I am about to
give indicates, however, that this test must be received
with the utmost caution. The facts run as follows :—
I was called in January last to visit a lady seventy-three
years of age, suffering from chronic bronchitis. She
had often suffered at intervals from similar attacks
during a period of twenty-five years. The present attack
was very severe, and as she was obviously in a state of
senile decrepitude her symptoms naturally gave rise to
considerable anxiety. Nevertheless she rallied and
improved so much that after a few days my attendance
was no longer required. I heard nothing more of this
lady until February 6 — a period of three weeks — when
I was summoned early in the morning to see her
immediately. The messenger told me that she had
retired to bed in the usual way, and had apparently died
in the night, but that she looked so life-like there was
great doubt whether death had actually taken place.
Within half-an-hour I was by her bedside ; there was
no sign of breathing, of pulse, or of heart-beat, and
the hands, slightly flexed, were rather rigid, but the
countenance looked like that of a living person, the eyes
being open and life-like. I believed her to be dead, and
that the rigidity of the upper limbs indicated commenc-
ing rigor mortis ; but this curious fact was related to
me by a near relative, that once before she had passed
THE DIAPHANOUS TEST. 22/
into a death-like state, with similar symptoms, even to
the rigidity of the arms and hands, from which state she
had recovered, and after which she had always experi-
enced the direst apprehension of being buried alive.
Her anxiety, it will be easily conceived, was readily
communicated to her relatives, who urged me to leave
nothing undone for determining whether life was or was
not extinct. Under the circumstances I suggested that
Dr. (now Sir) Benjamin Ward Richardson, who has
made the proofs of death a special study, should be
summoned. He soon arrived, and submitted the body
to all the tests in order. ... Of the nine tests,
eight distinctly declared that death was absolute ; the
exception, the fluidity of the blood, being a phenomenon
quite compatible with blood preternaturally fluid and at
a low temperature, even though death had occurred.
There now remained the diaphanous test, which we
carried out by the aid of a powerful reflector lamp,
yielding an excellent and penetrating light To our
surprise the scarlet line of light between the fingers was
as distinct as it was in our own hands subjected to the
same experiment. The mass of evidence was of course
distinctly to the effect that death was complete ; but, to
make assurance doubly sure, we had the temperature of
the room raised and the body carefully watched until
signs of decomposition had set in.
" The results of these experimental tests were satis-
factory, as following and corroborating each other in
eight out of the ten different lines of procedure ; but
the point of my paper is to show the utter inadequacy
of the diaphanous test, upon which some are inclined
entirely to rely. Sir Benjamin Richardson has reported
228 SIGNS OF DEATH.
an instance in which the test applied to the hand of
a lady who had simply fainted gave no evidence of
the red line ; she therefore, on that test alone, might
have been declared dead. In my case the reverse was
presented ; the body was dead, whilst the red line
supposed to indicate life was perfectly visible. Hence
the test might possibly lead to a double error, and
ought never of itself to be relied upon.
"It is a question worthy of consideration whether
the colouration observed was due to the fluid state of
the blood after death ; it is not unreasonable to suppose
so, but I prefer merely to offer the suggestion without
further comment."
Orfila, " Medicine Legale," vol. i., p. 478, fourth
edition, observes : —
" This sign can be of no use, because it is easy to
prove that the fingers of corpses placed between the
eye and the flame of a candle are transparent, even
when this experiment is made one or two days after
death."
THE PUTREFACTION TEST.
In the fourth (and last) edition of his able and most
instructive work on " Cremation," Sir Henry Thompson
admits " that there is but one really trustworthy proof
that death has occurred in any given instance, viz.,
the presence of a manifest sign of commencing decom-
position. This condition is always ascertainable, at all
events to the professional eye, and it should always be
verified before a certificate of death is signed."
This view is corroborated by those who are fitted to
speak with authority on the subject. Dr. Roger S.
Chew, of Calcutta, whose experiences have been already
THE PUTREFACTION TEST. 229
referred to, says : " Numerous experiments have been
suggested as means of ascertaining whether a body is
really dead or whether the animation is temporarily
suspended ; but, though these suggestions may col-
lectively yield a correct diagnosis, still they are valueless
when separately considered, and cannot compare with
the ' putrefaction test.' "
Dr. Hilton Fagge, in his " Principles and Practice of
Medicine," vol. i., p. 19, writing of cases where great
uncertainty exists as to whether life is extinct or merely
suspended, says: —
" / believe that the only sign of death which is both
certain to manifest itself in the course of a few days, and
also absolutely conclusive and infallible, is the occurrence
of putrefaction, which is generally first indicated by
discolouration of the surface of the abdomen. And in
any case admitting of doubt, the coffin should not be
closed until this has shown itself." (Italics ours.)
This question has aroused much interest also in
America. In an article in the Medical Examiner,.
Philadelphia, vol. vi., p. 610, the writer says: — "A
recent French reviewer in the Gazette Medicale closes
a survey of the differences between real and apparent
death by the following remarks : ' Experience,' says he,
' has shown the insufficiency of each of these signs,
with one exception — putrefaction. The absence of
respiration and circulation, the absence of contractility
and sensibility, general loss of heat, the hippocratic
face, the cold sweat spreading over the body, cadaveric
discolouration, relaxation of the sphincters, loss of
elasticity, the flattening of the soft parts on which the
body re.sts, the softness and flaccidity of the eyes, the
230 SIGNS OF DEATH.
opacity of the fingers, cadaveric rigidity, the expulsion
of alimentary substances from the mouth — all these
signs combined or isolated may present themselves in
an individual suffering only from apparent death.' "
Dr. Gannal, in " Signes de la Mort," p. 31, bears out
this view: —
u I share the opinion of the majority of authors who
have written on this subject, and I consider putrefaction
as the only certain sign of death." The author then
shows that all other signs are uncertain, and adds " that
it is possible, by taking certain measures, to wait until
putrefaction is well manifest, without injuring the public
health." If the attending medical practitioner could
always be relied upon to look for any such combination
of signs as above suggested, there would be much less
danger of premature burial than at present almost
everywhere prevails; but personal investigation obliges
the author deliberately to declare that these are looked
for only in a comparatively few instances.
" EccJiyuwsis, or post-mortem stains," writes Dr. Chew,
" are sometimes of value, but frequently they do not
appear, even though there are strong evidences of putre-
faction having set in, and in some cases this cadaveric
lividity, as it is termed, may be the result of violence
received before animation was suspended, and, the vital
spark not having been extinguished though the body
was apparently dead, ecchymosis had asserted itself as
a process of life, and not death."
Dr. Franz Hartmann, whose monograph1 has excited
1 " Premature Burial : An Examination into the Occult Causes of
Apparent Death, Trance, and Catalepsy." By Franz Hartmann, M.D.
Second edition. (London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co. One shilling.)
THE PUTREFACTION TEST. 231
much attention both in the English and American
Press, observes: —
" Apparent death is a state that resembles real death
so closely that even the most experienced persons
believe such a person to be really dead. In many
cases not even the most experienced physician, coroner,
or undertaker can distinguish a case of apparent death
from real death, neither by external examination nor
by means of the stethoscope, nor by any of the various
tests which have been proposed by this or that writer,
for all those tests have been proved fallible, and it is
now useless to discuss them at length, because many of
the most experienced members of the medical profession
have already agreed that there is no certain sign that a
person is really and not apparently dead, except the
beginning of a certain stage of putrefaction. All other
tests ought to be set down as delusive and unreliable."
SIR B. W. RICHARDSON'S " SIGNS."
Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson read a paper before
the Medical Society of London on " The Absolute
Signs and Proofs of Death," published (in 1889) in
No. 21 of the Asclepiad. The circumstance which
originated his investigation was a case of the revival of
an apparently dead child immediately before the funeral.
Dr. Richardson has seen persons apparently dead, and
presenting all the signs of death, but who were really
living. Amongst these he cites the following:—
" A medical man found dead, as it was presumed,
from an excessive dose of chloral. To all common
observation this gentleman was dead. There was no
sign of respiration; it was very difficult for an ear so
232 SIGNS OF DEATH.
long trained as my own to detect the sounds of the
heart; there was no pulse at the wrist, and the tem-
perature of the body had fallen to 97° Fahr. In this
condition the man had lain for some hours before my
arrival; and yet, under the simple acts of raising the
warmth of the room to 84° Fahr. and injecting warm
milk and water into the stomach, he rallied slowly out
of the sleep, and made a perfect recovery."
Medical practitioners frequently assert that the
signs of death are quite easy and impossible to mis-
take. Dr. Richardson, who has had the best of reasons,
as already shown, for observation and investigation,
holds a different opinion, and enumerates the signs of
death as follows : —
(1) Respiratory failure, including absence of visible
movements of the chest, absence of the respiratory
murmur, absence of evidence of transpiration of water-
vapour from the lungs by breath.
(2) Cardiac failure, including absence of arterial
pulsation, of cardiac motion, and of cardiac sounds.
(3) Absence of turgescence or filling of the veins on
making pressure between them and the heart.
(4) Reduction of the temperature of the body below
the natural standard.
(5) Rigor mortis and muscular collapse.
(6) Coagulation of the blood.
(7) Absence of signs of rust or oxidation of a bright
steel blade, after plunging it deep into the tissues. (The
needle test of Cloquet and Laborde.)
(8) Absence of red colour in semi-transparent parts
under the influence of a powerful stream of light.
SIR B. w. RICHARDSON'S "SIGNS." 233
(9) Absence of muscular contraction under the stimu-
lus of galvanism, of heat, and of puncture.
(10) Absence of red blush of the skin after subcutaneous
injection of ammonia ( Monti verdi's test).
(n) Putrefactive decomposition.
Sir Benjamin sums up as follows : —
"If all these signs point to death — if there be no
indications of respiratory function ; if there be no signs
of movement of the pulse or heart, and no sounds of the
heart ; if the veins of the hand do not enlarge on the
distal side of the fillet ; if the blood in the veins contains
a coagulum ; if the galvanic stimulus fails to produce
muscular contraction; if the injection of ammonia causes
a dirty brown blotch — the evidence may be considered
conclusive that death is absolute. If these signs leave
any doubt, or even if they leave no doubt, one further
point of practice should be carried out. The body
should be kept in a room, the temperature of which has
been raised to a heat of 84° Fahr., with moisture diffused
through the air; and in this warm and moist atmosphere
it should remain until distinct indications of putrefactive
decomposition have set in.
The Medical Press and Circular of October 2Othr
1897, commenting upon the above, says: — "It is
obvious from this that Sir B. W. Richardson, who
was admittedly a very high, if not the greatest,
authority on the subject, was of opinion that there
is only one absolute sign of death, and that there is
more or less risk where this is not waited for. In
his own case he left strict instructions with his family
that after supposed death his body was not to be
16,
234 SIGNS OF DEATH.
removed until this unequivocal test was manifest ; and
his wishes were religiously observed."
PRECAUTIONS IN WURTEMBERG.
In the Royal Decree issued by the Government for
examining the dead in Wurtemberg, dated January 24,
1882 (Dienst- Vorschriften fur Leichenschauer, Stuttgart,
1885), various signs and experiments for enabling the
official inspector of deaths to ascertain if actual death .
has taken place are laid down. Among these are : —
(1) "The cessation of sensibility may be assumed
if, on raising the eyelid, the pupil remains unaltered
when a lighted candle is held close to it ; or if pungent
odours, such as those derived from onions, vinegar,
volatile ammonia, or by severe friction of the chest,
arms, or soles of the feet, the application of mustard,
or burning tinder, or if sealing-wax dropped upon the
chest produces no reaction, and particularly if in the
latter case the skin does not blister.
(2) " The stoppage of the circulation of the blood,
apart from the absence of heart-beating, if, after tying
a tight bandage around the arm, the veins do not
swell up, upon the hands being firmly gripped ; also
if, upon pricking the lips, no blood escapes ; further-
more, if, on holding the hand in front of a bright
light (the diaphanous test), the finger-tips are no
longer translucent as in the living."
Nor should the inspector ever neglect to examine
the heart to ascertain the complete absence of all
sound, and to test the absence of breath by other
experiments.
PRECAUTIONS IN WURTEMBERG. 235
The rescript further adds that these experiments
" may not furnish absolute proof of death," and
describes what further proceedings to institute. These
are referred to in this volume in the chapter devoted
to Death-Certification.
THE LANCET ON THE UNCERTAINTY OF SIGNS.
*
An editorial note in the Lancet, January 29, 1887,
p. 233, shows the difficulty of distinguishing real from
apparent death : — " It was only last year that we
commented in our columns upon the ' signs of death/
drawing attention to the more important criteria by
which a skilful observer may avoid mistaking cases of
so-called suspended animation from actual decease.
Quite recently two instances have been recorded, in
which, if report be true, it would seem there is still
room for maturing the judgment upon the question
herein raised. At Saumur a young man afflicted with
a contagious disease apparently died suddenly. His
body was enshrouded and coffined, but as the under-
taker's men were carrying the * remains ' to their last
resting-place they heard what they believed to be a
knocking against the coffin-lid, and the sound was
repeated in the grave. Instead of testing at once the
•evidence of their senses, they, in accordance with
judicial custom, sent for the Mayor, in whose presence
the lid was removed from the coffin. Whereupon, to
the horror of the spectators, it was observed that the
dead man had only just succumbed to asphyxia. The
above narrative seems on the face of it too ghastly to
be true, especially as the occupant of the coffin must
have been shut up in a space containing oxygen in
236 SIGNS OF DEATH.
quantity totally inadequate to sustain an approximation
to ordinary breathing. But in cataleptic and similar
states the organic functions are reduced to the lowest
ebb, and history records several instances in which,
for a time at least, the determination of the living state
was a matter of uncertainty. In our issue of the I5th
inst, p. 129, the reader will find an account of ' Post-
mortem Irritability of Muscle,' in which the pheno-
menon was manifested in a marked degree t\vo hours
after death from a chronic wasting disorder — a condition
which favours early extinction of vital action in muscle.
It may be argued, then, with some show of reasonable-
ness, that it is quite possible for the heart to stand
still, as it were, and yet retain the power of action,
although experience tells us but little on the question
as regards the human subject. Experiments on the
lower animals, however, show that over-distention of
the right cavities of the heart causes cessation of
cardiac contraction, and that relief from the distention
may be followed by resumption of the function of
contractibility. It must not be forgotten that an
analogous condition is witnessed at times in patients
suffering from capillary bronchitis or other physical
states underlying acute distension of the right heart ;
for, in these cases, venesection is not uncommonly
instrumental in arresting the rapidly failing cardiac
contractions. The second case of apparent death
alluded to above happened in ' the land of big things/
An inhabitant of Mount Joy, Paramatta, was believed
to be dead, and his supposed remains were about to
be committed to the earth, when a mourning relative
startled the bystanders by exclaiming, ' I must see my
THE LANCET'S CONCLUSIONS. 237
father once more ; something tells me he is not dead.1
The coffin was taken from the grave to the sexton's
tool-house, and there opened, and was found to contain
a living inmate, who justified the presentiment of his
son by ' slowly recovering.' As no mention is made
in either case of the period that elapsed between the
occurrence of apparent death and the body being
placed in the coffin, or of the time during which the
encasement lasted, special and minute criticism is
uncalled for. Enough has been said on the subject to
emphasize the exhortation, ' Get knowledge, and with
all thy getting get understanding.' "
THE BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL'S CRITICISM.
The British Medical Journal, of September 28, 1895,
in a leading article on the " Signs of Death," says :—
" The question of the possibility of the interment of
living beings has recently been exercising the minds of a
portion of the public, whose fears have found expression
in a series of letters to some of the daily papers. It is a
matter of regret that so much irresponsible nonsense
and such hysterical outpourings should find a place in
the columns of our great daily press. No attempt at
the production of evidence in support of their beliefs
or fears has been made by the majority of writers,
whilst the cases mentioned by the few are either the
inventions of the credulous or ignorant, or are destitute
of foundation. It cannot be said that the few medical
men who have joined in this public correspondence
have either contributed any useful information or have
seriously attempted to allay the fears of the public. One
medical gentleman managed to earn for himself a cheap
238 SIGNS OF DEATH.
notoriety by employing, with very scanty acknowledg-
ment of the source, copious extracts from Dr. Gowers'
article on ' Trance ' in Ouain's ' Dictionary of Medicine/
" The possibility of apparent death being taken for
real death can only be admitted when the decision of
the reality of death is left to ignorant persons. We are
quite unprepared to admit the possibility of such a
mistake occurring in this country to a medical practi-
tioner armed with the methods for the recognition of
death that modern science has placed at his disposal.
Moreover, even by the ignorant the reality of death can
only be questioned during the period preceding putre-
faction. During this period various signs of death
appear which, taken collectively, allow of an absolute
opinion as to the reality of death being given. To each
of these, as a sign of death, exception may perhaps be
individually taken, but a medical opinion is formed from
a conjunction of these signs, and not from the presence
of an individual one."
The writer must surely have overlooked the able
treatises by Winslow, Kempner, Russell Fletcher,
Bouchut, Hartmann, Gannal, and others, supported
by evidence in the aggregate of thousands of cases
of premature burial, or narrow escapes, or have for-
gotten the dreadful cases which have appeared from
time to time in the columns of the British Medical
Journal itself. Commenting upon the case of a
child nearly buried alive, this medical authority in
its issue of October 31, 1885, under the head of
" Death or Coma ? " sensibly refers to some of the
difficulties in distinguishing apparent from real death
as follows : —
BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNALS EVIDENCE. 239
" The close similarity which is occasionally seen to
connect the appearance of death with that of exhaustion
following disease was lately illustrated in a somewhat
striking manner. An infant, seized with convulsions,
was supposed to have died about three weeks ago at
Stamford Hill. After five days' interval, preparations
were being made for its interment, when, at the grave's
mouth, a cry was heard to come from the coffin. The
lid was taken off, and the child was found to be alive,
was taken home, and is recovering. Such is the pub-
lished account of the latest recorded case of suspended
animation. We need not now attempt a dissertation on
the physical meaning of coma. It is well known that
this condition may last for considerable periods, and
may at times, even to the practised eye, wear very much
the same aspect as death. In the present instance, its
association with some degree of convulsion may easily
have been mistaken by relatives, dreading the worst, for
the rigid stillness of rigor mortis. This is the more
likely since the latter state is apt to be a transient one
in infants, though it is said to be unusually well marked
in death from convulsions. One cannot, however, help
thinking that the presence of the various signs of death
was not, in this case, very carefully inquired into. It is
hardly possible that, had the other proofs as well as that
of stiffening been sought for, they would have been
missed. // is true that hardly any one sign short of
putrefaction can be relied upon as infallible. In actual
death, however, one may confidently reckon on the
co-existence of more than one of these. After a period
of five days, not one should have been wanting. Besides
rigor mortis, the total absence of which, even in forms of
240 SIGNS OF DEATH.
death which are said not to show it, we take leave to
doubt, the post-mortem lividity of dependent pares affords
sure proof, as its absence suggests a doubt, of death.
Then there is the eye, sunken, with glairy surface, flaccid
cornea, and dilated insensitive pupil. Most practitioners,
probably, are accustomed to rely upon stethoscopic
evidence of heart-action or respiration. These alone,
indeed, are almost always sufficient to decide the
question of vitality, if they be watched for during one
or two minutes. There is no information as to whether
the child so nearly buried alive was seen by a medical
man. It is difficult to believe that, if it had been, some
sign of life would not have been observed. Still, the
case is a teaching one, even for medical men, and warns
us to look for a combination of known tests where any
doubt exists as to the fact of death." The italics are
ours.
MEDICAL EXPRESSIONS OF DIFFICULTY.
Prof. Alex. Wilder, M.D., in " Perils of Premature
Burial," p. 20, says : — " The signs of total extinction
of life are not so unequivocal as many suppose. The
apparent cessation of respiration and circulation do
not afford the entire evidence, for the external senses
are not sufficiently acute to enable us to detect either
respiration or circulation in the smallest degree com-
patible with mere existence. Loss of heat is by no
means conclusive ; for life may continue, and recovery
take place, when no perceptible vital warmth exists."
M. B. Gaubert, in " Les Chambres Mortuaires
d'Attente," p. 187, Paris, 1895, says: — "One of the
most celebrated physicians of the Paris hospitals,
MEDICAL EXPRESSIONS OF DIFFICULTY. 241
according to Dr. Lignieres, declares that, out of twenty
certified deaths, only one presented indubitable charac-
teristics of absolute death."
The difficulty of diagnosis which in many cases must
be allowed renders the obligation and necessity for a
radical change in our methods of treating the supposed
dead a very urgent one. Medical writers, whilst ad-
mitting the unsatisfactory nature of the current practice
of medical certification, allege that the remedy lies
with Parliament to make compulsory a personal
medical inspection of the dead, and to allow a fee
as compensation for the trouble. This, however, would
be very far from meeting the difficulty. How many
general practitioners would be willing to submit half-
a-dozen, say, of the eleven tests of death formulated
by Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, in any given case,
and if willing, how many, having regard to the fact
that these tests are not taught in the Medical Schools,
and form no part of the usual medical curriculum,
would be competent to make them with the requisite
skill ? In most of the Continental States there are
State-appointed surgeons to examine the dead, medecins
verificateurs, and in some of these — Wurtemberg, for
instance — the official is obliged to examine the corpse
several times before his certificate is made out. But
notwithstanding this careful official inspection, cases
of premature burial and narrow escapes are telegraphed
by Renter and Dalziel every now and then to the
English Press, as we have seen, and additional details,
with the names and addresses of the victims, are
furnished by responsible special correspondents.
The best proof that one can give of the uncertainty
242 SIGNS OF DEATH.
of the signs of death is the great divergence of opinion
amongst medical experts. Dr. Gannal in " Signes de
la Mort," Paris, 1890, p. 27, observes: — "If any of
these signs had presented characters of absolute
certainty, it is unquestionable that the unanimity of
authors would have recognised it ; now, there is none.
One sign held to be good by some, is declared bad by
others." Dr. Gannal affirms with iteration that there
is only one unequivocal sign and proof of dissolution —
decomposition. All authorities agree that whatever de-
gree of doubt attends the ordinary appearance of death,
none dispute that this amounts to a demonstration.
THE DANGER OF HASTE.
The Lisbon correspondent of the Daily Illustrated
Mirror, on March 15, 1904, details a strange case which
occurred at a small village called Montouro, in northern
Portugal :—
" An old villager died, and, after having been pre-
pared for burial, a nephew of his, who was a barber,
was called in at night to shave him, as is customary
here. The supposed corpse was merely in a cataleptic
trance, and as soon as the barber put cold water on his
face he sat up and began to talk wildly. The barber
was so terrified that he became raving mad, and, rushing
screaming from the house, called upon the villagers to
see the miracle which he had worked."
When standing round the bed of a sick patient, re-
duced to a state of coma or suspended animation, to
which death is the expected termination, as soon as
the doctor utters the fatal words " all is over," no one
present thinks of doubting the verdict, or putting it
THE DANGER OF HASTE. 243
to the test Mr. Clarke Irvine, who has had a wide
experience, writing in the Banner of Light, December
14, 1895, Boston, U.S., says:—
" I have known of hundreds of deaths in my experi-
ence, and never have I known of any instance wherein
a bystander has doubted save once, and then the person
supposed dead was revived, and is now living out in
Colorado. The mere accident of a stranger coming in
just previous to the enclosing in a coffin prevented the
man from the awful fate of burial alive, so far as we
can see.
" In one other, the supposed dead man came to life
a little before the time set for his funeral, by the
accident of someone seizing hold of his foot ; he is
still living, and a resident of this country. The case
was widely published in the newspapers after he was
interviewed by a reporter in Chicago, where the
rescued man was visiting at the time of the Great
Fair. He is known as Judge William Poynter. I
saw him a few days ago, and have heard him relate
the experience.
" The case of the little girl who was rescued while the
funeral was in progress, at St. Joseph, Missouri, I have
already contributed to The Banner. These people were
saved by a mere chance; how many have passed under-
ground forever, of whom nothing was ever suspected !
All through the country people are dying or apparently
dying, or falling into death-like trances daily, and being
placed in their coffins as a matter of course, and hurried
to and into their graves, as of course also — and in the
very nature of things it must be and must have been
that hundreds upon hundreds have been and are being
244 SIGNS OF DEATH.
consigned to that most awful of all the dooms possible.
The horror of the thing is simply unspeakable."
OFFICIAL REGULATIONS IN BAVARIA.
The following are extracts from the Police Regulations
for the inspection of the dead and the prevention of
premature burial in Bavaria, issued by the Royal
State- Ministry for Home Affairs:—
§ 4-
In public hospitals, penitentiaries, charitable or other similar
homes or institutions, the duty of inspection falls upon the
physician in chief.
Outside these institutions the inspectors must be chosen, in the
first instance, from among physicians, after them surgeons, former
assistants of military hospitals, and lastly, in default of such, from
lay people. The latter must, however, be of undoubted respecta-
bility, and, before their appointment, must be properly instructed
by the district physician, and subjected from time to time to an
examination.
§ 6.
As a rule the inspection of dead bodies must be made once if
by doctors, and twice if by laymen. In communities which possess
a mortuary a second inspection has to be made, even though the
regular inspection has previously been made by doctors or laymen.
§ 7-
The first inspection has to be made as soon as possible after
death, and, where practicable, within twenty-four hours, and in
cases described under § 6, sec. 2, at least before removal of the
body to the mortuary.
The second inspection must take place just before burial.
§ 8.
The body, until the arrival of the inspector, must be left in
an undisturbed position, with the face uncovered, and free from
closely-fitting garments.
OFFICIAL REGULATIONS IN BAVARIA. 245
The instructions of the inspector, for the resuscitation of a
body suspected of apparent death only, are to be followed most
strictly.
§ 9-
The inspector has to give a certificate of corpse inspection
confirmatory of his inspection, but he must only issue the same
if he has fully ascertained the actuality of death.
§ 10.
(i) As a rule the bodies must not be interred before the lapse
of 48 hours, but not later than 72 hours after death.
The police authorities may, however, at the recommendation
of the corpse inspector, exceptionally grant permission for the
burial before the expiration of 48 hours if a post-mortem dis-
section has taken place, also if decomposition has set in, and if
on account of lack of room the body has to be preserved in an
overcrowded habitation.
APPENDIX to the Police Instructions as to Corpse
Inspection and Time of Burial, of 2Oth
November, 1885.
I.
The purpose of corpse inspection is to prohibit the conceal-
ment of deaths by violent means or resulting from medical
malpractices ; to detect infectious diseases, and the establishment
of correct death lists ; and particularly to prevent the burial of
people only apparently dead. For this purpose each corpse is to
be closely examined on the first inspection as to any signs of
death, both in the front and the back of the body.
II.
The inspectors have primarily to establish the actuality of
death by observing and notifying all the symptoms accompanying
or following the decease.
4
246 SIGNS OF DEATH.
Indications of death may be noted : —
(1) If there is no indication of any pulsation noticeable, either
in the region of the heart, at the neck, at the temples, or the
forearm.
(2) If the eyelids when pulled asunder remain open, and the
eyes themselves appear sunken into their sockets, dulled, and
lustreless, also if the eyeballs feel soft and relaxed.
(3) If parts of the body are pale and cold, if chin and nose
are pointed, if cheeks and temples are sunken.
(4) If the lower jaw hangs down, and immediately drops again
if pushed up, or if the muscles feel hard and stiff (rigidity).
(5) If the skin of the fingers held against one another, held
towards light, do not appear reddish.
(6) If a feather or burning candle held against the mouth
shows no sign of motion, or if there is no sign of moisture upon
a looking-glass held before the mouth.
(7) If on different parts of the body, particularly the neck,
back, or posterior, or the undersurface of the extremities, there
are bluish-red spots (death spots) visible.
(8) If the skin, particularly at the sides of the stomach, show
a dirty-green discolouration (decomposition spots).
The non-medical inspector has to observe at least all the
symptoms i to 4.
In doubtful cases the medical inspectors are advised to test
the muscles and nerves by electric currents.
IV.
If the inspection gives rise to suspicions of apparent death
(Scheintod), the inspector must (if he is not himself a doctor)
immediately call for the assistance of a practised physician, so
as to establish the actual condition, and to adopt the necessary
measures for resuscitation, as follows : —
(i) Opening of the windows, and warming the room.
APPENDIX TO BAVARIAN REGULATIONS. 247
(2) Efforts at artificial respiration.
(3) Applications of warm mustard-plaisters to the chest and
the extremities.
(4) Rubbing with soft brushes, with cloths saturated in vinegar
or spirit of camphor, also with hot woollen cloths.
(5) Irritation of the throat with a feather.
(6) Smelling sal-ammoniac.
(7) Dropping from time to time a few drops of "extract of
balm," or similar essences, into the mouth.
Unless medical aid has meanwhile arrived, the application of
these measures must be continued until the apparently dead
comes back to life, and begins to swallow, in which case he
ought to have warm broth, tea, or wine, or until there is
absolutely no doubt as to the total ineffectiveness of all attempts
at reanimation.
CHAPTER XIV.
DURATION OF DEATH-COUNTERFEITS.
THE differences observed in the length of time that
persons have remained in this condition depended,
doubtless, upon the constitutional peculiarities of the
patients — such as strength or weakness — or upon the
nature of the disease from which they may have
suffered. Struve, in his Essay, pp. 34-98, says " that
it depends upon the proportion of vital power in the
individual. Hence children and young persons will
endure longer than the aged. Also upon the nature
of the element in which the accident happened, whether
it contained greater or less proportion of oxygenated
or carbonic acid gas, or other poisonous vapours. The
latent vital power seems to be much longer preserved
when animation has been suspended by cold. A man
revived after being under snow forty hours. Persons
apparently dead sometimes awake after an interval of
seven days, as was the case with Lady Russell. . . .
In the female sex, the suspension of vital power,
spasms, fainting fits, etc., originating from a hysterical,
feeble constitution, are not rare, nor is it improbable
that the state of apparent death may be of longer
duration with them ; nay, it may be looked upon as
a periodical disorder, in which all susceptibility of
irritation is extinguished." Struve further remarks,
p. 98, " that the state in which the vital power is
suspended, or in which there is a want of susceptibility
PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS. 249
of stimuli, consists of infinite modifications, from the
momentary transient fainting fit to a death-like torpor
of a day's duration. The susceptibility of irritation
may be completely suppressed, and the apparently
dead may be insensible of the strongest stimuli, such
as the operation of the knife and the effects of a
red-hot iron."
M. Josat, in " De la Mort et de ses Caracteres," gives
the result of his own observations in one hundred and
sixty-two instances, in which apparent death lasted—
In 7 from 36 to 42 hours.
20 „ 20 to 36
47 „ 15 to 20 „
58 „ 8 to 15 „
30 „ 2 to 8 „
The order of frequency of diseases in which these oc-
curred was as follows: — Asphyxia, hysteria, apoplexy,
narcotism, concussion of the brain, the cases of concus-
sion being the shortest.
LIFE IN THE GRAVE.
The length of time a person may live in the grave
will depend upon similar concomitant conditions ; but,
all things considered, a person buried while in a state
of trance, catalepsy, asphyxia, narcotism, nervous shock,
etc., and in any of the other states that cause apparent
death without passing through a course of disease, and
that occur during his or her usual health, will have a
longer struggle before life becomes extinct than one
whose strength had been exhausted by an attack of
17
250 DURATION OF DEATH-COUNTERFEITS.
sickness. Estimates of the duration of such a struggle
differ considerably. Some writers believe that "however
intense, it must be short-lived." As to the prolongation
of the horrible suffering incident to such tragic occur-
rences, Dr. Leonce Lenormand, in his"Des Inhumations
Precipitees," pp. 2-4, observes — "It is a mistake to think
that a living person, enclosed in a narrow box, and
covered with several feet of earth, would succumb to
immediate asphyxiation."1
Dr. Charles Londe, in his " La Mort Apparente,"
remarks: — "It has been calculated that, after one
1 " Pour se convaincre de 1'erreur cm 1'on tomberait en adoptant cette
opinion populaire, il suffit de reflechir d'abord qu'un cercueil n'est pas
exactement moule sur les proportions du corps qu'il contient; que, par
consequent, tous les intervalles sont remplis d'air respirable, en quantite
tres-grande, egale a-peu-pres a un cube dont le cute aurait 50 centimetres
de hauteur. Or, chaque inspiration absorbe environ 1,200 centimetres
cubes d'air dont 1'oxygene n'est employe dans 1'hematose que pour sa
cinquieme partie, le reste etant rendu pendant 1'expiration ; il en vesulte
done que chaque inspiration ne consomme en realite que 240 centimetres
cubes. L'homme, a 1'etat normal, respire a-peu-pres 800 fois par heure ;
et, comme un cube de 50 centimetres de cote contient 125,000 centimetres
cubes, on doit conclure que cette quantite d'air pent suffire a 520 inspira-
tions normales, c'est a dire a soutenir la vie pendant pres de trois quarts
d'heure. Mais, d'un autre cote, il est demontre, en botanique, que 1'air
filtre dans la terre; celui contenu dans le cercueil peut done en partie se
renouveler. On doit necessairement tenir compte de la nature du terrain
ou le cercueil a etc depose; s'il est sec, leger ou sablonneux, il laissera
penetrer, circuler pour, ainsi dire, 1'air atmospherique plus facilement,
que des terreg humides, grasses ou argileuses. Ajoutons enfin, que les
quantites determinees plus haut pourraient etre reduites de plus de moitie,
sans causer directement la mort. On voit done qu'un homme peut vivre
sous terre pendant plusieurs heures, et que ce temps sera d'autant plus
court que le sujet sera plus plethorique, c'est-a-dire predispose aux con-
gestions cerebrales, puisque, dans ce cas, ses inspirations seront plus
larges et plus frequentes."
LIFE IN THE GRAVE. 251
quarter of the quantity of atmospheric air contained in
the coffin — approximately estimated at one hundred
and twenty litres — was exhausted, death would set in;
therefore it is quite certain that, if the shroud is thick,
and the coffin well closed, and the grave impenetrable
to the atmosphere, life could not last more than forty
to sixty minutes after inhumation. But is not that a
-century of torture ? "
Some allowance should be made for the persistence
of the vital energy, which continues after all atmos-
pheric air is cut off. " Experiments on dogs show
that the average duration of the respiratory move-
ments after the animal has been deprived of air is
four minutes five seconds. The duration of the heart's
action is seven minutes eleven seconds. The average
of the heart's action, after the animal has ceased to
make respiratory efforts, is three minutes fifteen
seconds. These experiments further showed that a
dog may be deprived of air during three minutes
fifty seconds, and afterwards recover without the appli-
cation of artificial means." 1
Prof. P. Brouardel, M.D., Paris, in " La Mort
Subite," p. 35, observes that: — " A dog, placed in a
common coffin, lived five to six hours ; but a dog
occupies less room than a man, who, in such a coffin,
when closed, would not have more than one hundred
litres, so he would possibly live twenty minutes. I
would not wish anybody to pass twenty such cruel
minutes."
" Mr. Bernard, a skilful surgeon of Paris, certified
1 Report on "Suspended Animation." By a Committee of the Royal
Med. Chirur. Society, July 12, 1862.
252 DURATION OF DEATH-COUNTERFEITS.
that, in the parish of Riol, he himself, and several
other bystanders, saw a monk of the Order of St.
Francis, who had been buried for three or four days,
taken from his grave breathing and alive, with his
arms lacerated near the swathes employed to secure
them ; but he died immediately after his releasement.
This gentleman also asserts that a faithful narrative
of so memorable an accident was drawn up by public
authority, and that the raising of the body was occa-
sioned by a letter written from one of the monk's
friends, in which it was affirmed that he was subject
to paroxysms of catalepsy." — " The Uncertainty of the
Signs of Death," by Surgeon M. Cooper, Dublin, 1748.
HISTORICAL CASES OF LIVE BURIAL.
In a volume entitled " Information Relative to
Persons who have been Buried Alive," by Heinrich
Friedrich Koppen, Halle, 1799, dedicated to Frederick
William III., King of Prussia, and Louise, Queen of
Prussia, are the nine following amongst many other
cases : —
" England. — Lady Russell, wife of a colonel in the army, was
considered dead, and only through the tender affection of her
husband was she saved from living burial. He would not allow
her to be taken away until decomposition would absolutely force
him to do so. After seven days, however, in the evening, when
the bells were ringing, the faithful husband had the triumph to
see her eyes open and her return to full consciousness."
"Halle, Germany. — Medical Professor Junker, in Halle, a very
humane man, had a corpse of a suicide — by hanging — delivered
for dissection at his college. He was placed on a table in the
dissecting room, and covered with a cloth. About midnight,
HISTORICAL CASES. 253
while the professor was sitting at his writing-table in an adjoin-
ing room, he heard a great noise in the dissecting room, and,
fearing that cats were gnawing at the corpses, he went out, and
saw the cloth in a disturbed condition, and on lifting it up
found the corpse missing. As all the doors and windows were
closed, he searched the room, and found the missing one crouch-
ing in a corner, trembling with cold, in the terror of death.
He besought the professor for mercy, help, and means for
escape, as he was a deserter from the army, and he would be
severely punished if caught. After consideration, the kind
professor clothed him, and took him out of town at night as
his own servant — passing the guards — pretending to be on a
professional visit, and set him free in the country. Years after-
wards he met the same man in Hamburg as a prosperous
merchant."
" Leipsic. — The wife of the publisher, Mathaus Hornisch, died,
and, according to the custom of the times, the coffin was opened-
before being put into the ground. The grave-digger noticed
golden rings on her fingers, and in the following night went to
the grave to steal them — which he found was not easy to do —
when suddenly she drew back her arm. The robber ran away
frightened, leaving his lantern at the grave. The woman re-
covered, but could not make out where she was, and cried for
help. No one heard her ; so she got out of the grave, took the
lantern, and went to her home. Knocking at the door, the
servant called to know who it was. She replied : 'Your mistress.
Open the door ; I am cold, and freezing to death.' The master
was called, and happily she was restored to her home again,
where she lived for several years longer."
" Pavese, Italy, 1787. — A clergyman was buried, and noises
were heard in his grave afterwards. Upon opening the grave
and the coffin, the man was found alive, and violently trembling
with fright."
" Pans, 1787. — A carpenter was buried ; noises were heard
proceeding from his grave, and upon opening it he was found
to be breathing. He was taken to his home, where he recovered.'"'
254 DURATION OF DEATH-COUNTERFEITS.
" Stadamhof, 1783. — A young, healthy girl, on the way to a
wedding, had an apoplectic stroke, as it was thought, and fell
as if dead. The following day she was buried. The grave-
digger, who was occupied near her grave that night, heard
noises in it, and being superstitious ran home in fright. The
following morning he returned to finish a grave he was digging,
and heard the whining again from the girl's grave. He called
for help, the grave was opened, when they found the girl turned
over, her face scratched and bloody, her fingers bitten, and her
mouth full of blood. She was dead, with evidences of most
dreadful suffering/'
"France. — Madame Lacour died after a long sickness, and
was buried in a vault of a church, with all her jewels on. Her
maid and the sexton opened the coffin the following night to
steal the jewellery, when some hot wax from the candle they
were using fell on the woman's face and woke her up. The
robbers fled in fright, and the woman went back to her home.
She" lived many years afterwards, and had a son who became a
priest, who in turn — inheriting his mothers nature — underwent
a fate similar to her own."
"Lyons, France. — The wife of a merchant died. Two days
after her seeming death, and just before the time set for her
burial, her husband, who, it seems, had some doubts as to her
death, had her taken from the coffin, and had a scarifier used
in cupping applied in twenty-five places without bringing any
blood, but the twenty-sixth application brought her to conscious-
ness with a scream, and she recovered completely."
"Cadillac. — A woman had been buried in the morning. In
the following morning whining was heard in her grave. It was
opened, and the woman was found still alive, but she had
mutilated half of her right arm and the whole hand. She was
finally restored."
The Spectator, October n, 1895, publishes particulars
of a case of recovery, after three days' interment, in
Ireland. See pp. 99, 100 in this volume.
KOPPEN'S INVESTIGATIONS. 255
Koppen's investigations led him to observe that
" human life may appear to come to a stop, and no
one can say it will not go on again, if time enough
is allowed for it to do so. This even the most learned
in medicine cannot explain away or deny ; and the
greatest precaution should be taken before death is
declared to exist."
CHAPTER XV.
THE TREATMENT OF THE DEAD.
CUSTOMS OF SAVAGES.
THE following extracts from French, English, and
American authorities, who have made the subject of
premature burial one of patient research, show how
the dead, or apparently dead, were treated in their
respective countries at the time they wrote, and when
no reforms had been instituted. Buffon, who wrote
more than a century ago, said: — " Life often very nearly
resembles death. Neither ten, nor twenty, nor twenty-
four hours are sufficient to distinguish real from appa-
rent death. There are instances of persons who have
been alive in the grave at the end of the second and
even the third clay. Why, then, suffer to be interred
so soon those whose lives we ardently wish to pro-
long ? Most savages pay more attention to deceased
friends and relatives, and regard as the first duty what
is but a ceremony with us. Savages respect their dead,
clothe them, speak to them, recite their exploits, extol
their virtues ; while we, who pique ourselves on our
feelings, do not show common humanity; we forsake
and fly from our dead. We have neither courage 1-0
look upon or speak to them ; we avoid every place
which can recall their memory."
DANGER OF HASTY CONCLUSIONS.
In his " History of the Modes of Interment among
Different Nations," pp. 191-193, Mr. G. A. \Valker,
DANGER OF HASTY CONCLUSIONS. 257
surgeon, quotes the following observations, as deserving
consideration, on the subject of premature interment:—
" On many occasions, in all places, too much precipi-
tation attends this last office ; or, if not precipitation,
a neglect of due precautions in regard to the body in
general; indeed, the most improper treatment that can
be imagined is adopted, and many a person is made
to descend into the grave before he has sighed his last
breath. Ancient and modern authors leave us no doubt
respecting the dangers or misconduct of such precipita-
tion. It must appear astonishing that the attention of
mankind has been, after all, so little aroused by an
idea the most terrible that can be conceived on this
side eternity. According to present usage, as soon as
the semblance of death appears, the chamber of the
sick is deserted by friends, relatives, and physicians;
and the apparently dead, though frequently living,
body is committed to the management of an ignorant
and unfeeling nurse, whose care extends no further
than laying the limbs straight, and securing her accus-
tomed perquisites. The bedclothes are immediately
removed, and the body is exposed to the air. This,
when cold, must extinguish any spark of life that may
remain, and which, by a different treatment, might have
been kindled into flame ; or it may only continue to
repress it, and the unhappy person afterwards revive,
amidst the horrors of the tomb.
" The difference between the end of a weak life and
the commencement of death is so small, and the un-
certainty of the signs of the latter is so well established,
that we can scarcely suppose undertakers capable of
distinguishing an apparent from a real death. Animals
258 THE TREATMENT OF THE DEAD.
which sleep in the winter show no signs of life. In
this case, circulation is only suspended ; but, were it
annihilated, the vital spark does not so easily lose its
action as the fluids of the body, and the principle of
life, which long survives the appearance of death, may
reanimate a body in which the action of all the organs
seems to be at an end. But how difficult it is to de-
termine whether this principle may not be revived !
-. . . Coldness, heaviness of the body, a leaden, livid
colour, with a yellowness in the visage, are all very
uncertain signs. M. Zimmermann observed them all
upon the body of a criminal, who fainted through
dread of that punishment which he had merited. He
was shaken, dracfo-ed about, and turned in the same
oo
manner as dead bodies are, without the least signs of
resistance, and yet, at the end of twenty-four hours, he
was recalled to life by means of the volatile alkali."
Mr. Walker's history was written nearly sixty years
ago, but the custom he deprecated still continues.
CUSTOM IN THE UNITED STATES.
Dr. Moore Russell Fletcher, in his " Suspended Ani-
mation and Restoration," Boston, 1890, p. 19, speaking
of the treatment of the dead in the United States,
says : — " It is doubtful whether modern civilization has
much advanced the rites of burial, or the means of
preventing interment before positive death. The prac-
tice now is, as soon as apparent death takes place, to
begin at once preparing the body for burial ; the
relatives and physician desert the room, pack it in
ice or open the windows, thus banishing any possible
chance of reviving or resuscitating any spark of vitality
CUSTOM IN THE UNITED STATES. 259
which may exist. No examination is ever made by
the physician or the friends to see if there are even
the faintest signs of life present. Under such circum-
stances, and with no attempts made at discovering
whether any signs of life were still present (but a
hasty burial instead), it is not strange that cases of
premature interment frequently' occur."
THE FALLACY OF " SIGNS."
The Rev. Walter Whiter, in his " Dissertation on the
Disorder of Death," 1819, p. 328, sensibly observes: —
" The signs marked on the dying and the dead are
fallacious. The dying man may be the sinking man,
exhausted by his malady, or perhaps exhausting his
malady, and fainting under the conflict. Exert all the
arts which you possess, and which have been found
not only able to resuscitate and restore the dying, but
even the dead ; rouse him from this perilous condition
and suffer him not, by your supineness and neglect
to pass into a state of putrefactive death." And in
p. 363 : — " If the humane societies had applied the
same methods in various cases of natural death which
they have adopted in the case of drowning, and if
they had obtained a similar success in the cultivation
of their art, the gloom of the bed of death would be
brightened with cheering prospects, and would have
become the bed of restoration and the scene of hope."
SUGGESTED NEW VOCATION.
In this connection we may remark that no profession
is more overcrowded at the present time than that of
medicine, particularly in the United Kingdom, the
260 THE TREATMENT OF THE DEAD.
English Colonies, and the United States. Hundreds
of young men graduate from medical colleges every
year, vainly seeking openings for a practice ; and
some, for the purpose of gaining a livelihood, resort to
expedients which the Lancet denounces as undignified,
unprofessional, and disgraceful. Then, again, the num-
ber of nurses and of those qualifying for this honour-
able vocation is already in excess of the demand, and
nursing institutions, under the keen competition to
which they are subjected, are reducing their charges.
Now, the care and treatment of the supposed dead is
an honourable vocation, offering a wide field for the
instructed physician and the tender and sympathetic
nurse, and if the appliances for resuscitation were
always at hand, as they should be, in every hospital,
town hall, mortuary, police station, and in all large
hotels and churches, many lives, now subjected to the
risks of premature burial, would be saved. While in
London there are two or more houses or retreats for
the dying, there is no place for the apparently dead
but a shunned and neglected coffin. The time is not
far distant when the present mode of treating the
dead and the apparently dead — a practice born of
superstition and fear, by which many are consigned
to premature graves — will be catalogued amongst the
barbarisms of the nineteenth century.
CHAPTER XVI.
NUMBER OF CASES OF PREMATURE
BURIAL.
CONCLUSIONS FROM KNOWN FACTS.
THOSE interested in the movement, if we are right in
designating the widespread feeling of discontent by this
name, are occasionally asked if the cases of premature
burial are numerous, and what estimates, if any, have
been made of them. We have no means of answering
these queries. We do not even know the percentage
of people who are subject to trance, catalepsy, shocks,
stroke of lightning, syncope, exhausting lethargy, ex-
cessive opium-eating, or other diseases and conditions
which produce the various death-counterfeits. Personal
inquiries over a considerable portion of Europe, America,
and the East prove that such cases are by no means of
infrequent occurrence, and this is the deliberate conclu-
sion of nearly all the authorities cited in this volume.
Dr. Chambers wrote in 1787 — "Every age and
country affords instances of surprising recoveries, after
lying long for dead. From the number of those
preserved by lucky accidents, we may conclude a far
greater number might have been preserved by timely
pains and skill." — Cited in " Mort Apparente et Mort
Reelle," p. 17.
In his introduction to the work above cited, "In-
formation Relative to Persons who have been Buried
Alive," by Heinrich Friedrich Koppen, Halle, 1799, the
262 NUMBER OF CASES OF PREMATURE BURIAL.
author says : — " General Staff Medical Officer, D. O.
in D., states that, in his opinion, one-third of mankind
are buried alive." This estimate is very obviously
exaggerated, although many trustworthy experiences
prove that a certain number of those who die have
returned to consciousness in their graves. A great
many are buried alive from ignorance of their relatives,
who mistake coldness of the body, stoppage of the
pulse and breathing, the colour of death, spots of
discolouration, a certain odour, and stiffness of the
limbs — which are only deceptive signs, and not the
signs of real death.
WISDOM OF DELAY IN BURIAL.
The very respectable Dr. Hufeland says : — " One
cannot be too careful in deciding as to life or death,
therefore I always advise a delay of the funeral as
long as possible, so as to make all certain as to death.
Xo wonder those who are buried alive, and who
undergo indescribable torture, condemn those who
have been dearest to them in life. They will have to
undergo slow suffocation, in furious despair, while
scratching their flesh to pieces, biting their tongues,
and smashing their heads against the narrow houses
that confine them, and calling to their best friends,
and cursing them as murderers. The dead should
not be buried before the fourth day ; we even have
examples that prove that. Eight days or a fortnight
is too soon — as there have been revivals as late as
that. I say everyone should respect those who only
seem to be dead. They should be treated gently, and
kept in a warm bed for thirty-six hours."
SUGGESTIVE DISCOVERIES. 263
Mr. John Snart, in his "Thesaurus," pp. 27, 28,
London, 1817, says: — "The number of dreadful catas-
trophes, arising from premature interment,
that have been discovered only, or have transpired to
man, above ground, both in ancient and modern times,
conveys to every reflecting mind the fearful thought
that they are but a sample (per synecdochen) out of
such an incalculable host, perhaps one in a thousand."
VARIOUS STATISTICAL ESTIMATES.
Professor Froriep, quoted in Kempner's volume,
says that — " In 1829, arrangements were made at the
cemetery, New York, so as to bury the corpses in
such manner as not to prevent them communicating
with the outside world, in case any should have
awakened to life ; and among twelve hundred persons
buried six came to life again." In Holland, the same
author states, of a thousand cases investigated, five
came to life before burial, or at the grave. The Rev.
J. G. Ouseley, in his pamphlet on " Earth to Earth
Burial," London, 1895, estimates "that two thousand
seven hundred persons at least, in England and Wales,
are yearly consigned to a living death, the most
horrible conceivable."
The Rev. Walter Whiter, in the " Disorder of Death,"
1819, p. 362, calls attention to one of the reports (of
Humane Societies), where the following passage occurs:
" Monsieur Thieurey, Doctor Regent of the Faculty
of Paris, is of opinion that one-third, or perhaps half,
of those who die in their beds are not actually dead
when they are buried. He does not mean to say that
so great a number would be restored to life. In the
264 NUMBER OF CASES OF PREMATURE BURIAL.
intermediate state, which reaches from the instant of
apparent death to that of total extinction of life, the
body is not insensible to the treatment it receives,
though unable to give any signs of sensibility."
Maximilian Misson, in his " Voyage Through Italy,"
vol. i., letter 5, tells us "that the number of persons
who have been interred as dead when they were
really alive is very great, in comparison with those
who have been, happily, rescued from their graves."
He then proceeds to substantiate his statement by
the recital of cases.
Dr. Leonce Lenormand, in his able treatise, " Des
Inhumations Precipitees," has given his deliberate
opinion that a thousandth part of the human race
have been, and are, for want of knowledge, annually
buried alive.
M. Le Guern, in his " Danger des Inhumations
Precipitees," which has passed through several editions,
declares that he has personally met with forty-six
cases of premature burial in twelve years. He de-
voted thirty years to the study of the facts, and
collected a list of two thousand three hundred and
thirteen cases from various sources. He estimates the
number of premature burials in France at two per
thousand.
On February 27, 1866, the petition of M. Cornot
was presented to the French Senate by M. de la
Gueronniere, stating that a comparatively large number
of persons are annually buried alive. This statement
he supported by statistics. The author has tried to
procure a copy of this petition, but these documents
are not published by the State department.
AN INSTANCE OF TWO PER CENT. 265
A MEDICAL MAN'S CAUTION.
The following appears in the Lancet June 14, 1884,
p. 1104:—
• "Sir, — That this is an incident that does happen,
and frequently has happened, has for some years past
been my firm conviction ; and during epidemics,
particularly in the East, its possible contingency has
frequently caused me much anxiety ; and when the
burial has, for sanitary reasons, had to be very
hurried, I always made it a rule to withhold my
certificate, unless I had personally inspected the body
and assured myself of the fact of death.
"The reason and necessity for extreme caution in
such matters were impressed vividly upon me some
years ago, when visiting the crypt of the cathedral at
Bordeaux, where two bodies were shown, to whom, I
think it obvious, this most terrible of all occurrences
must have happened ; and I am unable to attribute
the position in which they were found in their coffins,
and the look of horror which their faces still displayed,
to any action of rigor mortis or any other post-mortem
change, but simply and solely to their having awakened
to a full appreciation of their most awful position. In
the case of one of these bodies, which was found
lying on its side, the legs were drawn up nearly to a
level with the abdomen, and the arms were in such a
position as to convey the impression that both they
and the legs had been used in a desperate, but futile,
attempt to push out the side of the coffin ; whilst
the look of horror remaining on the face was simply
indescribable. In the other case, the body was found
18
266 NUMBER OF CASES OF PREMATURE BURIAL.
lying on its face, the arms extended above the head,
as if attempting to push out the top of the coffin. In
the year 1870 these two bodies were still on view;
and the attendants used to dwell at some length upon
the horrors of being interred alive. It appears that
some years prior to 1870, in making excavations in a
churchyard in the immediate vicinity of the cathedral,
the workmen came upon a belt of ground that
apparently was impregnated with some antiseptic
material, as all the bodies within this belt, to the
number of about two hundred, were found to be
almost as perfect as when they were buried ; of these
a selection appears to have been made ; and at the
time I mention about thirty or forty were exhibited,
propped up on iron frames, in the crypt of the
cathedral. The impression left on my mind at
the time was, that if out of two hundred bodies so
discovered there could be two in which, to say the
least, there is a strong probability of live interment,
this awful possibility was a thing that should receive
more attention than is generally devoted to it — I am,
sir, your obedient servant,
"H. S.
" Bayswater, June 10, 1884."
CONDITIONS IN FRANCE.
Protests against the present state of the law in France
are very frequent. M. Gaubert in " Les ChambreS
Mortuaires d'Attente," page 80, says : " During the
monarchy of July petitions have not ceased to come in
from all parts of France to the Chamber of Deputies."
For a great number of years, said the Deputy Varin,
CONDITIONS IN FRANCE. 267
in the sitting of April 10, 1847, every year petitions
having the same object (the prevention of premature
burial) are presented to the Chambers and referred to
the Ministry. What has been done, however? Nothing!
Again M. Gaubert, on p. 88, referring to resolutions
of the General Councils of the Departments, observes :
'" That under the movement of protest, which we are
examining and find particularly serious, is shown the
widespread character which it assumes. It is, indeed,
from all parts of France, and under every form, that
the sad complaints of the public (for the prevention
of premature burial) arrive at the office of the Minister
of the Interior. Those protests adopted by the General
Councils (of Departments) were not the less numerous
nor the less conspicuous in important places. Many
of those who take the trouble to petition or draw up
resolutions have been prompted to action by melan-
choly experience of such catastrophes in their own
families."
M. Gaubert, in " Les Chambres Mortuaires d'Attente"
{Paris, 1895), PP- 193-195> Sa7s that in France there are
in round numbers thirty-six thousand Communes, and
it is beyond doubt that in every one of these will be
found cases of premature burial. Communes with a
population of eight hundred have even several. Dr.
Pineau has recorded twelve in the single Commune of
Fontenay-le-Comte in Poitou. In the large towns,
especially in those which have great hospitals, the pro-
portion is more considerable. In Paris, Dr. Rousseau,
verificateur of the dead, in 1853 wrote: " Le medecin
n'est jamais appele que pour constater la mort
-apparente." M. Gaubert declares that he would not
268 NUMBER OF CASES OF PREMATURE BURIAL.
be far from the truth in estimating the number • of
victims to apparent death at eight thousand a yearr.
and asks if France be so rich in population as to be
able to pay such an enormous tribute. Dr. Josaty
laureat de 1'Institut, declares that a considerable
number of people refuse to visit France through fear
that they might be overtaken by apparent death and
precipitately buried alive.
IN ENGLAND, INDIA, AND THE CONTINENT.
The Undertakers' Journal, July 22, 1889, the editor
of which has exceptional opportunities of knowing the
true facts, observes : " It has been proved beyond all
contradiction that there are more burials alive than is
generally supposed. Stories of these cases are numer-
ous. Five cases are reported on p. 85 of this same
issue, one the wife of a well-known tradesman at St.
Leonards, medically pronounced dead, but who revived
before it was too late. Many undertakers could
describe similar experiences."
Dr. Roger S. Chew, of Calcutta, in reply to the
author's inquiries while in India in the early part of
the year 1896, says: "There are hundreds of instances
on record where from some cause, as syncope, shock,
chloroform, hysteria, or other condition not clearly
understood, the powers of life assumed a static con-
dition in which oxidation was completely arrested,
carbonification was held in abeyance, and nitrification
maintained at positive rest, with the consequence that
the vital functions have passed into a condition of
hibernation or apparent death so closely simulating
real or absolute death as to render differential diagnosis
ENGLAND, INDIA, AND THE CONTINENT. 269
an. almost impossibility, and to lead to the interment or
cremation while yet alive of a body apparently dead."
Dr. Franz Hartmann, of Hallein, Austria, whose
book, " Buried Alive," is now being translated into
French, has collected seven hundred cases of premature
burial and narrow escapes, several of which have oc-
curred in his own neighbourhood, and is of opinion
that the actual danger to every member of the human
family is of serious proportions, and that the subject
•should not be trifled with. He is a strong advocate
for cremation as offering the easiest practical method
•of prevention.
It will have been noticed that whenever the subject
of premature burial has been introduced in an influential
journal published in England, the United States, or
the Continent, one contribution follows another in
quick succession by persons furnishing particulars of
cases of trance, catalepsy, and of narrow escapes from
living burial. The Paris Figaro opened its columns
some years ago for this subject, and in fifteen days
received four hundred letters from all parts of France.
When we consider that nearly all the reported cases
of resuscitation have come about spontaneously and
independently of human intervention, it becomes
evident, owing to our ignorance and apathy, that
cases of premature burial are far from infrequent, and
our churchyards and cemeteries, like those examined
by Dr. Thouret in Paris, are probably the silent
witnesses of unnumbered unspeakable silent tragedies.
Immediate legislation is called for to remedy a national
evil, and to remove the feeling of disquietude which
-extensively prevails.
2/O NUMBER OF CASES OF PREMATURE BURIAL.
IN IRELAND.
As an illustration of hasty burial in Ireland, the
following report of a meeting of the Roscrea Guardians
is taken from the Kings County Chronicle, Parsons-
town, Ireland, August 27, 1896.
" Thursday— Present : T. Jackson, D.V.C., in the
chair; L. S. Maher, J. P. ; M. Bergin, J. P. ; W. J.
Menton, W. Jackson, P. Roe.
" Mr. Roe — You made short work of Jack Ryan at
the chapel of Knock. He was alive and speaking at
three o'clock, and buried at six the same day. The
Master stated that, it being supposed the man died from
an infectious disease, no person would assist in coffining
him till a message came asking that he (the Master)
would send out some of the male inmates, and he sent
two and had him coffined and interred. Mr. Roe — The
man was not cold when he was buried. Master — The
nun tells me the man had an ounce of tobacco clasped
tightly in his hands. Chairman — What disease had he ?
Clerk — Pneumonia was certified by the doctor. The
people believed that he had died from an infectious
disease, and insisted he should be buried immediately,
Mr. Roe — It was certainly short work — a man dying at
three o'clock and buried at six. Master — This man was
married to a woman who was a nurse in the old
Donoughmore workhouse, and they lived at Drumar,.
Knock."1
reference to the burial customs in Ireland, the King's County
Chronicle, Parsonstown, September 17, 1896, says :— " Young children are
buried the day after death, but adults are waked for two, and sometimes
three, nights.
CHAPTER XVII.
EMBALMING AND DISSECTIONS.
THE work of disintegration commences directly death
of the body takes place, and, according to most impor-
tant researches by M. Megnin in " La Faune des
Cadavres," is the result of the operations of successive
colonies of insects — "the labourers of death," some
eight different species in all, which pursue their offices
according to the particular stage of decomposition for
which their services are required.
This valuable work of disintegration is arrested by
the process of embalming, which consists in the injec-
tion of various toxic substances; and were this process
universal it would mean the rather inadvisable preserva-
tion of immense numbers of human bodies, and, at the
same time, it would occasionally lead to the defeat of
justice where death by poisoning had occurred.
There are those, however, who claim advantages for
the processes of embalming and dissection.
THEIR CLAIMS.
An intelligent and observing correspondent writes
to the author that " under the prevailing custom of
embalming in vogue in the United States, it is almost
impossible to have a living burial, as the injection of
the fluids used in the operation would prevent revival
and make death certain. Of course, the class denomi-
nated 'poor folks,' who cannot afford this security,
2/2 EMBALMING AND DISSECTIONS.
have to take their chances with the mysteries of trance
and other forms of apparent death, as well as with
ignorance, indifference, and unseemly haste, that seem
to encompass a man at a time when he is in need of
the most considerate care."
Embalming is no doubt preferable, as was thought
by the late Lady Burton, to the risks, prevailing in
almost all countries, of burial before careful medical
examination, for the reason that it is better to be killed
outright by the embalmer's poisonous injections, or even
to come to life under the scalpel of the anatomist, than
to recover underground. A leading New York investi-
gator has openly declared his belief that a considerable
number of human beings (supposed by their relatives to
be dead, but who are really only in a state of death-
trance) are annually killed in America by the embalming
process.
The late Miss Frances Power Cobbe was so impressed
by the fear of being buried alive, for reasons which
are recited on page 126, that she preferred being killed
outright by the surgeon's knife, rather than run the risk
she so much dreaded. Consequently, her will contained
the following solemn injunction to her medical adviser,
which was duly carried out by the editor of this work :
" To perform on my body the operation of completely
and thoroughly severing the arteries of the neck and
windpipe, nearly severing the head altogether, so as
to make any revival in the grave absolutely impossible.
If this operation be not performed, and its completion
witnessed by one or other of my executors, and testified
by the same, I pronounce all bequests in this will to
be null and void."
VARIOUS INSTANCES. 273
THE RISKS OF EMBALMING.
Dr. P. J. Gibbons, M.A., says : — " In my mind
there is no doubt that bodies in which life is not
extinct are embalmed."
The Select Committee of the House of Commons
appointed in 1893 to enquire into the subject of
Death-Certification, suggest in their report that in
all cases where it is desired to embalm a dead body
an authorisation should be obtained from the Home
Secretary. This is probably intended to prevent
concealing cases of death by poisoning. The Select
Committee might very well have extended its recom-
mendations to the need of verifying the death before
the embalmer was allowed to exercise his art on the
subject. Legislation in the United States, where
embalming is extensively practised among well-to-do
people, is a matter of urgent necessity. The author
is aware of only one town where the city ordinance
enforces such verification before permitting burial.
In the second edition of Dr. Curry's " Observations
on Apparent Death," 1815, p. 105, the case is cited of
William, Earl of Pembroke, who died April 10, 1630.
When the body was opened in order to be embalmed
he was observed, immediately after the incision was
made, to lift up his hand.
F. Kempner, in " Denkschrift," p. 6, says : —
" Owing to some great mental excitement, the
Cardinal Spinosa fell into a state of apparent death.
He was declared to be dead by his physicians, and
they proceeded to open his chest for the purpose of
embalming his body. When the lungs were laid
274 EMBALMING AND DISSECTIONS.
open, the heart began to beat again ; the Cardinal
returned to consciousness, and was just able to grasp-
the knife of the surgeon, when he fell back and died
in reality."1
The Journal de Rouen, Aug. 5, 1837, relates the
following : —
" Cardinal Somaglia was seized with a severe ill-
ness, from extreme grief; he fell into a state of
syncope, which lasted so long that the persons around
him thought him dead. Preparations were instantly
made to embalm his body, before the putrefactive
process should commence, in order that he might be
placed in a leaden coffin, in the family vault. The
operator had scarcely penetrated into his chest, when:
the heart was seen to beat. The unfortunate patient,
who was returning to his senses at that moment, had
still sufficient strength to push away the knife of the
surgeon, but too late, for the lung had been mortally
wounded, and the patient died in a most lamentable
manner."
Dr. Hartmann in " Premature Burial," p. 80, says : —
" The celebrated actress Mdlle. Rachel died at Paris,
on 4th January, 1858. After the process of embalm-
ing her body had already begun, she awoke from her
trance, but died ten hours afterwards owing to the
injuries that had been inflicted upon her."
The Celestial City, New York, June 15, 1889, records
the thrilling experience of Mrs. Eleanor Fletcher
Bishop, the mother of the celebrated mind-reader.
" Anent the unseemly haste exercised by the doctors
1 Quoted by Dr. Franz Hartmann in "Premature Burial."
STRANGE OCCURRENCES. 2/5'
who made the autopsy on her son, the old lady stated
what terrible perils she at one time barely escaped.
' I am subject to the same cataleptic trances, in which
my boy often fell,' said Mrs. Bishop. 'One can see
and hear everything, but speech and movement are
paralyzed. It is horrible. For six days, some years
ago, I was in a trance, and saw arrangements being
made for my funeral. Only my brother's determined
resistance prevented them from embalming me, and I
lay there and heard it all. On the seventh day I came
to myself, but the agony I endured left its mark for
ever.' "
THE RISKS OF DISSECTION.
Mr. M. Cooper, surgeon, in his admirable little volume
" The Uncertainty of the Signs of Death," London,
1746, p. 196, observes that "those who are dissected
run no risk of being interred alive. The operation is an
infallible means to secure them from so terrible a fate.
This is one advantage which persons dissected have
over those who are, without any further ceremony, shut
up in their coffins."
The following from Ogston's "Medical Jurisprudence,"
p. 370, is a case in point (quoted by the Lancef}; — "In.
October, 1840, a servant girl, who had retired to bed
apparently in perfect health, was found the following-
morning, as it appeared, dead. A surgeon who was
called pronounced her to have been dead for some
hours. A coroner's inquest was summoned for four
o'clock, and the reporter and the surgeon who had been
called in to the girl were ordered to inspect the body
previous to its sitting. On proceeding to the house for
this purpose at two o'clock, the inspectors found the girl
2/6 EMBALMING AND DISSECTIONS.
lying in bed in an easy posture, her face pallid, but
placid and composed, as if she were in a deep sleep,
while the heat of the body had not diminished. A vein
•was opened by them, and various stimuli applied, but
•without affording any sign of resuscitation. After two
hours of hesitation and delay, a message being brought
that the jury were waiting for their evidence, they were
forced to proceed to the inspection. In moving the
body for this purpose, the warmth and pliancy of the
limbs were such as to give the examiners the idea that
they had to deal with a living subject ! The internal
cavities, as they proceeded, were found so warm that a
very copious steam issued from them on exposure. All
the viscera were in a healthy state, and nothing was
detected which could throw the smallest light on the
cause of this person's death." Tidy ("Legal Medicine")
part i., p. 140, remarks thereon — " A mistake had no
doubt been made in this case, as its warmth was not
caused by decomposition."
In the " Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine," edited by
Sir John Forbes, M.D., and others, 1847, vol. i.,
pp. 548-9, we find the following: — "Nothing is more
certain than death ; nothing is more uncertain at times
than its reality ; and numerous instances are recorded
of persons prematurely buried, or actually at the verge
of the grave, before it was discovered that life still
remained ; and even of some who were resuscitated by
the knife of the anatomist. . . . Bruhier, a cele-
brated French physician, who wrote on the uncertainties
of the signs of death in 1742, relates an instance of a
young woman upon whose supposed corpse an anato-
mical examination was about to be made when the first
DISSECTING-ROOM TRAGEDIES. 2/7
stroke of the scalpel revealed the truth ; she recovered,,
and lived many years afterwards. The case related by
Philippe Pue is somewhat similar. He proceeded to<
perform the Caesarean section upon a woman who had
to all appearance died undelivered, when the first incision
betrayed the awful fallacy under which he acted. . . .
'There is scarcely a dissecting-room that has not some
traditional story handed down of subjects restored to
life after being deposited within its walls. Many of
these are mere inventions to catch the ever greedy ear
of curiosity ; but some of them are, we fear, too well
founded to admit of much doubt. To this class belongs
the circumstance related by Louis, the celebrated French
writer on medical jurisprudence. A patient who was
supposed to have died in the Hospital Salpetiere was
removed to his dissecting-room. Next morning Louis
was informed that moans had been heard in the theatre;
and on proceeding thither he found to his horror that
the supposed corpse had revived during the night, and
had actually died in the struggle to disengage herself
from the winding sheet in which she was enveloped.
This was evident from the distorted attitude in which
the body was found. Allowing for much of the fiction,
with which such a subject must ever be mixed, there is
still sufficient evidence to warrant a diligent examination
of the means of discriminating between real and apparent
death; indeed, the horror with which we contemplate a
mistake of the living for the dead should excite us to
the pursuit of knowledge by which an event so repug-
nant to our feelings may be avoided. ... If life
depends upon the presence of a force or power con-
tinually opposed to the action of physical and chemical.
278 EMBALMING AND DISSECTIONS.
laws, real death will be the loss of this force, and the
abandonment of organised bodies to these agents ;
while apparent death will be only the suspension of
the exercise of life, caused by some derangement of
the functions which serve as instruments of vital action.
This suspension must have been lost for a considerable
time, if we may judge by the cases collected by
credible authors, to some of which we have alluded,
and by the numerous instances of drowned persons
restored to life after long submersion. From this
definition of life and death, it would follow that
putrefaction is the only evidence of real death."
MISTAKES OF EMINENT ANATOMISTS.
The historical instance of Vesalius has been ques-
tioned, but the facts appear to be unrefuted.
" Andreas Vesalius, successively first physician to
Charles the Fifth and his son Philip the Second of
Spain, being persuaded that a certain Spanish gentle-
man, whom he had under management, was dead, asked
liberty of his friends to lay open his body. His request
being granted, he no sooner plunged his dissecting-
knife in the body than he observed signs of life in it,
since, upon opening the breast, he saw the heart palpi-
tating. The friends of the deceased, horrified by the
accident, pursued Vesalius as a murderer ; and the
judges inclined that he should suffer as such. By the
entreaties of the King of Spain, he was rescued from the
threatening danger, on condition that he would expiate
his crime by undertaking a voyage to the Holy Land."
The account of an accident that befell another
anatomist is taken from Terilli.
MISTAKES OF ANATOMISTS. 2/9
" A lady of distinction in Spain, being seized with an
hysteric suffocation so violent that she was thought
irretrievably dead, her friends employed a celebrated
anatomist to lay open her body to discover the cause of
her death. Upon the second stroke of the knife she
was roused from her disorder, and exhibited evident
signs of life by her lamentable shrieks extorted by the
fatal instrument. This melancholy spectacle struck the
bystanders with so much consternation and horror that
the anatomist, now no less condemned and abhorred
than before applauded and extolled, was forthwith
obliged to quit not only the town but also the province
in which the guiltless tragedy was acted. But though
he quitted the now disagreeable scene of the accident,
a groundless remorse preyed upon his soul, till at last
a fatal melancholy put an end to his life."
Le Guern, in " Du Danger des Inhumations Preci-
pitees," chap, iv., p. 24, relates that " The Abbe* Prevost
was found in the forest of Chantilly perfectly insensible.
They thought him dead. A surgeon proceeded to
make a post-mortem; but hardly had he put the scalpel
in the body of the unfortunate victim before the sup-
posed corpse uttered a cry, and the surgeon realised the
mistake he had made. Prevost only became conscious
to feel aware of the horror of the death by which he
perished."
Dr. Franz Hartmann, in his " Premature Burial," p. 80,
has the following : —
"In May, 1864, a man died very suddenly at an
hospital in the State of New York, and as the doctors
could not explain the cause of the death they resolved
upon a post-mortem examination, but when they made
280 EMBALMING AND DISSECTIONS.
the first cut with the knife, the supposed dead man
jumped up and grasped the doctor's throat. The doctor
was terrified, and died of apoplexy on the spot, but the
' dead ' man recovered fully."
Brigade-Surgeon W. Curran in his eighth paper,
entitled " Buried Alive," relates the following : — " At
the Medical College at Calcutta, on the 1st of Feb-
ruary, 1 86 1," so writes my friend as above, "the body
of a Hindu male, about twenty-five years of age, was
brought from the police hospital for dissection. . . .
It was brought to the dissecting-room about six
a.m., and the arteries were injected with arsenical
solution about seven. At eleven the prosector opened
the thorax and abdomen for the purpose of dissecting
the sympathetic nerve. At noon Mr. Macnamara
distinctly saw the heart beating; there was a regular
rhythmical vermicular action of the right auricle and
ventricle. The pericardium was open, the heart being
freely exposed, and lying to the left in its natural
position. The heart's action, although regular, was
very weak and slow. The left auricle was also in
action, but the left ventricle was contracted and rigid,
and apparently motionless. These spontaneous con-
tractions continued till about 12.45 p-m., and, further,
the right side of this organ contracted on the application
of a stimulus, such as the point of a scalpel, etc., for a
quarter of an hour longer." — Health, May 21, 1886, p. 121.
Bruhier, in his work, " Dissertation sur 1'Incertitude
de la Mort et 1'Abus des Enterrements," records a
number of cases of the supposed dead, who, after burial,
were revived at the dissecting table, together with fifty-
three that awoke in their coffins before being buried,
MISTAKES OF ANATOMISTS. 28 1
fifty-two persons actually buried alive, and seventy-two
other cases of apparent death. This was at a time
when body-snatching was in vogue, and it is a curious
comment on our civilization to be compelled to admit
that a subject of trance or catalepsy during the
eighteenth or the early part of the last century had
a better chance of escape from so terrible a fate than
now, when the vocation of the resurrection-man has
become obsolete.
CHAPTER XVIII.
DEATH-CERTIFICATION.
THE STATE OF THE LAW.
AT the conclusion of a series of inquests at Stepney,
on September 5, 1903, Mr. Wynne E. Baxter, the
coroner, mentioned an extraordinary case which bears
immediately upon the subject of death-certification.
It appears that a little child had been twice attended
to in the casualty department of the East London
Children's Hospital for some trifling disorder. A few
days after the last visit to that institution, the mother
went to pick the child up, and found it apparently
dead. Under this apprehension she went to the hospital
and endeavoured to obtain a death-certificate, but on
her return home she found the child alive. The
casualty officer at the hospital, who had found nothing
sufficiently wrong with the child to account for the
sudden death, refused a certificate, and reported the
supposed death to the coroner. The assistant officer of
the coroner then proceeded to arrange the preliminaries
for an inquest, but on calling at the parent's house
found the child alive.
The recital of this case was the cause of consider-
able public criticism, and several of the daily news-
papers dwelt strongly upon the alleged lax and
perfunctory manner of granting death certificates in
hospitals. The British Medical Journal, of September
THE STATE OF THE LAW. 283
12, commenting upon this criticism, says: — "To
impose on hospital residents the duty of viewing the
corpse in every case before granting a death certifi-
cate would be to disorganise totally every department
of the hospital on many days of the week. Such a
duty, moreover, is not imposed on private practitioners,
who have many more facilities for visiting their
patients' residences. To expect the visiting out-
patient staff, too, to view the corpse before granting
a death-certificate would be. to inflict such a burden
that no gentlemen would be found willing to take
such posts."
In the present case the casualty officer had found
nothing sufficiently wrong to account for death, "yet,"
continues the British Medical Journal, " had the child
been seriously ill on his seeing it, and the death was
reported to him by the nearest relative, the mother,
he would have had no option allowed him by the
law but to grant the certificate."
This sums up very fairly the present state of the
law as to the granting of death-certificates. It is the
regular practice of medical men, who have been in
attendance upon patients seriously ill, to accept the
statement of the friends that the patient has died,
and to give a certificate at once without any inspec-
tion of the body. According to the legal form of
death - certificate, "printed by the authority of the
Registrar-General," he is under no obligation to satisfy
himself that the patient is dead ; indeed, a space is
left for him to write the words "as I am informed,"
should he not be satisfied about it. And, whilst
elaborate instructions are given as to the way in
284 DEATH-CERTIFICATION.
which the death - certificates are to be filled up, no-
caution or instruction is given as to the absolute
signs of death, or what steps should be taken in
doubtful cases.
An illustration of this lack of investigation before
granting a death - certificate occurred a few months
prior to the case cited above, namely, in July, 1903*
at Glamorgan Assizes, when a married woman was
charged with unlawfully obtaining by false pretences
the sum of £3 los. from the Royal London Friendly
Society, in respect of the alleged death of her child,
at Swansea, on i/th June. The Grand Jury made
some very pertinent observations regarding the con-
duct of the doctor in granting a certificate of death
without actual knowledge; and Mr. Justice Channell,
before passing sentence, offered the doctor an oppor-
tunity of giving an explanation of the course he had
pursued. The doctor claimed " the usual practice 'r
as his excuse, and, after a long colloquy, the judge
remarked: "I am quite sure, if this custom is universal,
it is nevertheless wrong."
PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY.
A Select Committee of the House of Commons,,
under the chairmanship of Sir Walter Foster, M.D.,
was appointed on March 27, 1893, to inquire into the
subject of death-certification in the United Kingdom.
Fourteen sittings were held, and thirty-two witnesses
examined. All the witnesses practically agreed as
to the serious defects in the law, and a number of
recommendations were made. It was shown that in
about four per cent, of the cases the cause of death
PARLIAMENTARY ENQUIRY. 285
was ill defined and unspecified, many practitioners
having forms specially printed for their own use, in
which all mention of medical attendance was omitted,
the object being to enable the doctor to give certificates
in cases which he has never attended. Numerous
deaths attended by unqualified practitioners were certi-
fied by qualified practitioners who had probably never
seen the cases; and deaths were certified by medical
practitioners who had not seen the patient for weeks or
months prior to death, and who knew only by hearsay
of the deaths having occurred. Deaths were also
certified in which the true cause was suppressed in
deference to the feelings of survivors; these last in
particular were reported to be very numerous.
In Q. 2552-83 remarkable evidence was produced
as to the reckless mode of death -certification. One
medical witness testified that he saw a certificate of
death, signed by a registered medical practitioner,
giving both the fact and the cause of death of a man
who was actually alive at the time, and who lived four
days afterwards, with facts of even a more startling
character described as " murder made easy." It was
pointed out that fraud and irregularity in giving false
declarations of death are by no means infrequent.
Various other matters were treated, and the following
are some of their recommendations: —
1. That in no case should a death be registered without the
production of a certificate of the cause of death by a registered
medical practitioner, or by a coroner after inquest, or, in Scotland,
by a procurator-fiscal.
2. That in each sanitary district a registered medical practitioner
should be appointed as public medical certifier of the cause of
286 DEATH-CERTIFICATION.
death in cases in which a certificate from a medical practitioner
in attendance was not forthcoming.
3. That a medical practitioner in attendance should be required,
before giving a certificate of death, to personally inspect the body,
but if, on the ground of distance, or for other sufficient reason, he
is unable to make this inspection himself, he should obtain and
attach to the certificate of the cause of death a certificate signed
by two persons, neighbours, verifying the fact of death.
4. That medical practitioners be required to send certificates
of death direct to the registrar instead of handing them to the
relatives of the deceased.
5. That a form of certificate of death should be prescribed, and
that medical practitioners should be required to use such form.
SIR HENRY THOMPSON'S CRITICISM.
As a commentary upon the above recommendations,
the Times of May 23, 1896, publishes the following-
report:—
" At the special meeting of the Metropolitan Counties
Branch of the British Medical Association, held last
night at the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn
Street, the subject of an improvement in the present
procedure in death certification and registration came
up for discussion. Sir W. Priestley, M.P., president,
took the chair.
" Sir Henry Thompson moved the following resolu-
tion:— 'Considering that a Select Committee of the
House of Commons has in 1893 made an extended
inquiry into the subject of death certification and
registration on the plan now followed in this country,
and has reported that it manifestly fails to accomplish
the purpose for which it was designed, this meeting is
of opinion that Her Majesty's Government should be
SIR HENRY THOMPSON'S CRITICISM. 287
respectfully memorialized to bring in a bill as soon as
possible to give effect to an improved procedure in
general accordance with the suggestions offered in the
Committee's report.' He said that, during the last
twenty years or more, circumstances had not unfre-
quently occurred to attract public attention to the
existence of grave defects in the system of death-
certification adopted in this country, whether regarded
as a safeguard against criminal attempts on life or
as a means of forming trustworthy records of disease
for scientific purposes. From the Registrar-General's
report for England and Wales for the year 1892, it
was shown that in fifteen thousand cases of death no
inquiry had been made as to its cause, and that no
certificate had been obtained from any source — a
number amounting to nearly three per cent, on the
total returned for the year. On the same authority it
appeared that in twenty-five thousand more, or four and
a half per cent, the cases * were so inadequately certified
as not to be classifiable,' making together a class of
seven and a half per cent, in which no evidence of any
value as to the cause of death existed. After what had
already been done in the matter, all that appeared to
be necessary at present seemed to him to be that they
should forward a memorial to the Home Secretary, with
a request that he would consider the important work
which had been already done by the Select Committee,
and, if he saw fit, take steps to embody their recom-
mendations in an Act of Parliament, for the purpose of
giving the country a greatly improved procedure in
exchange for that at present employed. Dr. Isambard
Owen, in the absence of Dr. Farquharson, M.P., seconded
288 DEATH-CERTIFICATION.
the resolution, and asserted that the State now winked
at an exceedingly loose system of death-certification,
since under the present procedure it was possible for a
medical man to give a death certificate on a patient
whom he might not have seen for an interval of several
weeks, and perhaps months. The resolution was sup-
ported by Dr. Nelson Hardy, Dr. Alderson, Dr. Hugh
Woods, Dr. Sykes, and others, and was unanimously
adopted."
UNCERTIFIED CAUSES OF DEATH.
The condition of things mentioned by Sir Henry
Thompson has improved somewhat in succeeding years,
but it leaves much to be desired. In reply to Mr.
Corrie Grant, Mr. Akers Douglas, the Home Secretary,
stated on the 5th March, 1903, that the numbers of
deaths of which the causes were not certified are as
follows : —
1897 ... ... ... 11,103
1898 ... ... ... 10,441
1899 10,745
1900 ... ... ... 11,257
1901 ... ... ... 9;986
The matter is dealt with on p. xxix. of the Registrar
General's Report for 1902. The last published figures
for 1901 represent slightly under two per cent, of all
registered deaths.
The Parliamentary Committee above referred to
omitted an unexampled opportunity of inquiring into
the facts of premature burial. They could have sum-
moned pathologists who had made trance and catalepsy
a subject of close and searching investigation, as well as
INSUFFICIENT OFFICIAL ENQUIRY. 289
physicians who, in their practice, have been called in to
decide upon cases of apparent death, and witnesses up
and down the country who know of such cases, and
others who have met with narrow escapes from these
horrible mishaps. Instead of taking this reasonable
course of procedure, the Committee contented them-
selves by examining two or three medical men, who had
been summoned to give evidence upon the irregularities
of death certification only, and whose negative and
apathetic replies showed either that the subject had
never engaged their attention or that they were
unwilling to charge any member of the profession with
a fault so ruinous to his professional reputation as to be
unable to discriminate between the living and -the dead.
No questions were submitted to the witnesses as to the
signs of death, the characteristics of catalepsy, trance,
asphyxia, syncope, etc., or how to distinguish these from
death, or with reference to the submission of tests in
doubtful cases in order to ascertain the fact of death.
Indeed, it may be observed that the investigation
regarding a most vital point connected with death-
certification appears to have entirely escaped the notice
of this tribunal.
THE BURIAL ACT OF 1900.
This Act of Parliament, which involves important
changes in the law affecting burial authorities, came
into operation on the 1st January, 1901. That is,
seven years after the Parliamentary enquiry already
referred to, and more than four years after the pass-
ing of the important resolution quoted above. Among
the clauses are the following : —
290 DEATH-CERTIFICATION.
i, Consecration ; 2, chapels ; 3, fees ; 4, transfer of powers to
Local Government Board ; 5, inquiries by Secretary of State ;
6, protection of unconsecrated burial ground ; 7, obligation of
incumbent as to burial ; 8, notes of intention to bury ; 9, ap-
plication of certain provisions of Burial Acts to cemeteries under
42 and 43 Viet., c. 31 ; 10, boundary fences ; u, meaning of burial
authority; 12, repeal; 13, short title and commencement.
All these matters are of undoubted importance,
but their importance is trifling compared with that of
seeing that the subject of them is not only apparently
but actually dead. Attention was called to this
important oversight in the press while the bill was
before Parliament; but in spite of this, and of the
Parliamentary Committee's recommendations, and of
Sir Henry Thompson's efforts, no change was made
in the matter of death-certification.
On March 23 of the same year in which this
Act came into force, TJie Medical Times deals forcibly
with the subject, and says :— -
". . . Briefly, our position is this. At present, in this
country, there is no regular system of examining the bodies of
persons assumed to be dead before certificates of the cause of
death are given, and the latter certificate is the sole legal
requirement to obtain the burial of the body. It is, therefore,
manifestly possible — and, indeed, various cases have occurred
which prove the possibility — that a certificate of the cause of
death might be quite innocently given by a medical practitioner
before the patient had actually died. It would be quite sufficient
in many cases, for example, for the doctor to have seen the
patient apparently in a moribund state, say, in the morning, and
a relative to call at his house in the afternoon, announce the
patient's death, and ask for a certificate, and it would be given.
It has, indeed, actually happened that, in all good faith, such a
statement has been made, and a certificate given, while the
patient was not only not dead, but finally recovered. In the
THE BURIAL ACT OF IQOO. 2QI
next place, it is within the bounds of possibility that such a
patient, in a comatose state, might be placed in a coffin and
actually buried without being really dead. The occurrence, in
short, is possible, and we do not at present desire to press the
argument further. . . . Suffice it to say that, if the possibility
of any person being buried alive be admitted, every human
instinct must demand that measures should be taken to make
such an occurrence absolutely impossible."
This important pronouncement by a responsible
medical journal should give pause to those who are
given to pooh-pooh and ridicule the subject, and
should have some weight with members of Parliament
in urging forward this much needed legislation.
The London Association for the Prevention of
Premature Burial has been indefatigable in pressing
this important matter upon public and Parliamentary
attention, and a resolution passed by its executive
council on January 15, 1903, states very succinctly
the position it takes up :—
" That this council desires to call the attention of urban and
rural sanitary authorities to the dangers of premature burial
arising from the absence of a proper system of death -verifica-
tion. That the fact admitted by the Home Secretary, that over
eleven thousand persons are annually buried in England and
Wales without any death-certificate, illustrates the extreme care-
lessness and haste with which persons apparently dead are con-
signed to the grave without any adequate inquiry as to the fact
of death. That the discovery of the fact of live burial, should
it occur, is almost impossible in the present state of the law,
which forbids the exhumation of the corpse without the order of
the Home Secretary. The sanitary and other local bodies are,
therefore, urged to support a Parliamentary measure for provid-
ing guarantees against premature burial, whilst facilitating
exhumation in cases where these guarantees have been omitted."
As the late Col. Vollum well wrote, just before
292 DEATH-CERTIFICATION.
his death, " the core and essence of a protective law
should consist in the reasonable and systematic
registration of a certificate of verified death, rendered
by a qualified physician after his personal examination
of the body, before the issue of a permit for burial
or other disposal of the body."
The carelessness with which a certificate may be
given in consequence of the existence of a law which
fails to bind upon a medical practitioner the necessity
of carefully examining an alleged dead body before
giving a certificate is illustrated by the following singu-
lar case, reported in the Times of January 19, 1878: —
" A poor woman lay very ill in her scantily-furnished
home in Sheffield. The doctor was sent for, and
came. He at once saw that hers was a very grave
case, and that she had, as he thought, little chance
of recovery, even if she could get the nourishment
her illness required. As he was about to leave, the
question was put, ' When should we send for you
again, doctor ?' ' Well/ was the reply, as he looked at
the poor woman and then at her wretched surround-
ings, ' I don't think you need send for me again.
She cannot possibly get better ; and to save you
further trouble I'll just write you out a certificate for
her burial.' And he did. After the doctor departed
the woman — women always were wilful — got better
rapidly. She has now completely recovered, and goes
about carrying her burial certificate with her."
CONDITIONS IN FRANCE.
" In Paris and the large French towns medical in-
spectors, called medecins verificateurs, are appointed,
CONDITIONS IN FRANCE. 293
whose business it is to visit each house where a.
death occurs, and ascertain that the person is really
dead, and that there are no suspicious circumstances
connected with his or her decease. More than eighty
qualified medical men are employed for this purpose
in Paris.
': In the rural districts of France this system is not
in force ; two witnesses making a declaration to a civil
officer that a death has taken place is considered
sufficient. The burial is not allowed to take place
until at least twenty-four hours after the declaration."
— Blyth: "Dictionary of Hygiene and Public Health."
Dr. Leonce Lenormand, in his admirable work, " Des
Inhumations Precipitees," p. 140, accuses the inedecins
des murts in France with culpable carelessness in the
exercise of their function, which consists in verifying
the reality of the death. Instead of making a minute
examination of the body to ascertain the fact of death,
this writer says they are content (except in cases of
death from violence) to merely glance at the body, and
immediately hand the family the necessary authorisa-
tion for interment. The inspector knows that if he
examined every part of the body, as in duty bound,
he would be accused of barbarism and profanation.
In France, in spite of medecins v'erificateurs, probably
more premature burials occur than in any country in
Europe, except Turkey, immediate burial after real or
apparent death being the inexorable rule. Dr. Lenor-
mand attributes the frequency of premature burials in
France, first of all, to the negligence and prejudices
of the families of the deceased ; then to the careless-
ness of the doctors charged by the State with the
294 DEATH-CERTIFICATION.
inspection of the dead ; and, lastly, to the imperfection
of the police regulations.
The British Medical Journal, January 28, 1893, P- 2O4
(Special Correspondence, Paris), writing on this subject,
says :—
" The 7/th Article of the Code obliges the officier de
I'e tat civil to visit the death-bed and verify every death ;
but this Article is a dead letter. The officer in question
has neither time nor knowledge sufficient to put it in
practice. In small country places, rarely any precau-
tions are taken to prevent premature burials. In more
important villages and towns, the mayors delegate the
doctors of the locality to verify deaths before burial.
Throughout the whole of France, it appears that there
are not fifty towns where the death- verify ing service is
well organised ; and, on an average, there are from
twenty thousand to thirty thousand burials without
previous verification of death. The declaration of two
witnesses is sufficient, who obtain their information from
those around the deceased. In Paris, the two mortuaries
already in existence — one at the Montmartre, the other
at Pere La Chaise — are rarely used. The bodies of those
who die in the streets, from accident or sudden death,
are taken there when there is no domicile; also, those
of foreigners who die in lodging-houses. In the course
of eighteen months the mortuary of Montmartre re-
ceived five dead bodies, and Pere La Chaise one.
REGULATIONS IN BRUSSELS.
Extracts from " Regulations for the Domiciliary
Examination of the Dead in the City of Brussels
Civil Government (Medical Service)."
REGULATIONS IN BRUSSELS. 2Q5
"ARTICLE i. — The Medical Service of the Civil Government
is distributed among the medical heads of divisions, the deputies
and chiefs of the Department of Hygiene."
"ARTICLE 5. — No interment can take place except after the
•decease has been verified by the doctors of the Civil Govern-
ment by means of a careful and complete examination of the
corpse."
This verification, as well as the identity of the person
deceased, shall be certified by a prods-verbal [state-
ment or description, for which a blank is furnished
"A"], which they shall leave at the house of the
deceased.
"ARTICLE 8. — They shall notify the officers of the Civil Govern-
ment, and their superintendents of police, of any infractions of
the regulation provisions which forbid proceeding with autopsy,
moulding [making a cast?], embalmment, or putting in a coffin
the corpse, before the death has been duly ascertained."
"ARTICLE 9. — The verification of the decease of still-born or
of newly-born infants shall exact a most attentive examination
on the part of the examining doctors. They shall indicate in
their report if the infant has died before, during, or after birth ;
and, in the last case, how long it lived after birth."
"ARTICLE 10. — If they doubt the reality of the death, they
shall employ, without delay, every means of recovery that science
suggests under the circumstances. They shall immediately notify
the visiting doctor, and, in every case, shall prepare the proces-
verbal of the verification of death only after certainty has been
established, and, if need be, by repeated visits."
"ARTICLE n. — When a woman has died in a state of advanced
pregnancy, they shall direct the artificial extraction of the infant,
supposed to be yet living ; and, in the lack of an attending
doctor, shall perform it themselves when -necessary."
296 DEATH-CERTIFICATION.
REGULATIONS IN WURTEMBURG.
The contrast between the laxity at home and the
regulations laid down by authority in Wurtembtirg,
Bavaria, and other Continental States, is remarkable,
and should receive the attention of the Registrar-
General without delay.
A Royal Decree, entitled " Dienst-Vorschriften fur
Leichenhaiiser," for the inspection and burial of the
dead, promulgated by the King of Wurtemburg,
January 24, 1884, provides for the appointment of
medical inspectors of the highest integrity and qualifi-
cations in every commune, the position being justly
regarded as one of great responsibility.
Immediately after a death, the body must under no
circumstances be interfered with, and must not be
removed from the death-bed until after the authorised
inspection. Post-mortems can be made only if the fact
of death has been previously clearly established. Pre-
cise instructions are laid down, so that the inspector,
who is to examine the entire body, may see that the
various forms of suspended animation are not certified
as actual death. Amongst these are the following :—
" Section ii. — To see that sensibility, pulsation of the heart,
neck, temples, and forearm, and the breath, have ceased. That
the muscles of the body have lost their elasticity ; therefore the
limbs are limp, the face sunken, the nose pinched, the eyes
sunken, and when the eye-lids are forcibly opened they remain
so, the lower jaw drops more or less, and drops again when
pressed upwards.
"In actual death the body gradually gets colder, beginning
with the exposed limbs, and in from ten to sixteen hours the
body will be quite cold. The colour of the face becomes ashy
REGULATIONS IN WURTEMBURG.
pale, and the lips discoloured. The eye loses its brilliancy, and
is usually dulled by a covering of dried mucus.
" If all the foregoing symptoms are exhibited, and particularly
if the deceased was of an advanced age, or if the death was
caused by severe or long illness, which led to the expectation of
a fatal result, the fact of death may be safely assumed.
" But, on the other hand, if part of these symptoms are missing,
or in cases of pregnancy, or exhaustion in consequence of flooding
after confinement, or if death occurs under fits, or in violent out-
bursts of passion, the possibility of counterfeit-death is to be
taken for granted.
"Notwithstanding the existence of all the symptoms (signs of
death) before mentioned, the possibility of apparent death is not
excluded in cases where the death has occurred after syncope,
tetanus, suffocation, or in cases of drowning, stroke of lightning,.
or from a severe fall, or from frost, or in still-born children."
After detailing instructions as to a variety of experi-
ments to ascertain whether the death is actual or
apparent, this Royal Decree proceeds :—
" Section viii. — These experiments may, however, not give
absolute certainty as to the complete extinction of all life. If,
therefore, the slightest doubt remains as to the reality of death,
the inspector is to take the necessary precautions for the protec-
tion of the deceased, by frequent inspections, and the most
careful examinations, and to obtain the assistance of the nearest
physician or surgeon, who is to co-operate with him to promote
resuscitation. If these attempts prove abortive, he must see that
nothing is done which would be detrimental to reanimation, or
resumption of life."
Then follow minute instructions how to proceed
under the varied circumstances which may have pro-
duced the symptoms known as apparent death. In no
case must the burial- certificate be handed over by the
inspector until he has thoroughly satisfied himself of the
presence* of unmistakable signs of actual death.
20
298 DEATH-CERTIFICATION.
One cannot help contrasting these carefully con-
sidered rules with the lax and haphazard methods of
dealing with the dead and apparent dead both in
England and in the United States. As a consequence,
cases of premature burial in Wiirtemburg are of very
rare occurrence, and sensible people in that country,
knowing that the danger of premature burial has been
reduced to a minimum, are not consumed by an ever-
abiding anxiety, as with us; nor is it the custom for
testators in Wiirtemburg to give instructions to their
executors for piercing the heart or severing the jugular
vein, or some other form of mutilation, as in France,
Spain, and other countries, where the risks are so
terribly great.
The only case of the danger of premature burial that
has come to the author's notice in Wiirtemburg is
related by Bouchut, in his " Signes de la Mort," p. 48 : —
"In the village of Achen, in Wiirtemburg, Mrs. Eva
Meyers, twenty-three years of age, was taken ill
during an epidemic. Her condition became rapidly
worse, and she apparently died. They put her into a
coffin, and carried her from the warm into a cold
room, there to await burial, which was to take place
at two p.m. on the following day. Shortly after noon
on that day, and before the carriers arrived, she
awoke and made an effort to rise. Her aunt, who
was present, and who believed that a ghost had taken
possession of her, took a stick and would have killed
her, if she had not been prevented by another woman.
Nevertheless, she succeeded in pushing the body back
violently into the coffin, after which she indignantly
went to her room. The patient remained helplessly
INCIDENT IN WURTEMBURG. 299
in that condition, and would have been buried if the
usual hour for the burial had not for some reason
been changed. Thus she remained for another twelve
hours, when she was able to gather sufficient strength
to arise. She still lives, and has paid the charges for
her funeral, which were claimed by the clergy, the
bell-ringer, and the undertaker."
REGULATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES.
In the United States the subject of death-verification
has only recently begun to engage public attention.
The following, at Dover, New Hampshire, appears to
be the only instance in which reasonable, although not
altogether adequate, precautions are adopted: —
"CITY ORDINANCES, 1895.
"CHAP, xvii. — VITAL STATISTICS.
" SECTION 3. — Whenever any person shall die within the limits
of the city, it shall be the duty of the physician attending such
person, during his or her last sickness, to examine the body of
such deceased person before the burial thereof, and to make
out a certificate setting forth, as far as the same may be
ascertained, the name, age, colour, sex, nativity, occupation
whether married or single, duration of residence in the city,
cause, date, and place of death of such deceased person; and
it shall be the duty of the undertaker, or other person in charge
of the burial of such deceased person, to add to such certificate
the date and place of burial, and, having duly signed the same,
to deposit it with the city clerk, and obtain a permit for burial;
and in the case of death from any contagious or infectious disease,
said certificate shall be made and forwarded immediately; and,
in each case of a physician so examining and reporting, he shall
receive of the city a fee of one dollar."
300 DEATH-CERTIFICATION.
''SECTION 4. — Whenever a permit for burial is applied for, in
case of death without the attendance of a physician, or it is
impossible to obtain a physician's certificate, it shall be the duty
of the city physician to make the necessary examination, and to
investigate the case, and make and sign a certificate of the
probable cause of death ; and, if not satisfied as to the cause
and circumstances attending such death, he shall so report to
the mayor."
"SECTION 5 — No interment or disinterment of the dead body
of any human being, or disposition thereof in any tomb, vault,
or cemetery, shall be made within the city without a permit
therefor, granted as aforesaid, nor otherwise than in accordance
with such permit.
" Xo undertaker, superintendent of cemetery, or other person,
shall assist in, assent to, or allow any such interment, or
disinterment, to be made, until such permit has been given as
aforesaid
" Any person violating any of the provisions of this chapter
shall be fined not less than ten nor more than twenty dollars."
MEDICAL AND LAV OPINIONS.
Dr. J. Brinclley Tames, in a communication to the
Medical Times, May 23, 1896, pp. 355-356, calls atten-
tion to the insufficient safeguards against premature
burial under the present system of death-certification,
and observes : — " The dread possibility of premature
interment ever hangs like a gloomy sword of Damocles
over all our heads, and fearful indeed is the authentic
record of persons buried alive, who have recovered
consciousness, too late, alas ! to be rescued from their
frightful dungeon. How often does our overworked—
we do not say careless — practitioner sign the death-
certificate of a patient whose death-bed he did not
attend — whose corpse he has not visited ? And, even
MEDICAL AND LAY OPINIONS. 3OI
assuming him to have done so, and conscientiously too,
in how many of the fearful cases above alluded to
have not these formalities proved insufficient, clearly
suggesting the advisability of a specialist, experienced
in post-mortem inspection, solely sanctioning interment
in all cases."
The Daily Chronicle, London, September 16, 1895,
in a leading article on the danger of premature burial,
says : — " The truth is, the whole system of certifying
for burial needs to be reconsidered and reformed, and
that for other reasons than the danger of entombment
before life is extinct. We do not want a coroner's
inquest, with its jury, for every death ; but the doctors
should be compelled, under severe penalties, to discover
the certain sign of death before they authorise the
burial, and to know the cause of death in every case.
We trust now too much to individuals in a generally
trustworthy profession, who may not reach the high
general standard of their class, or may grow listless
through the indifference wrought by use and wont, or
who think they can detect the rigor mortis at a glance,
never having seen the severest form of catalepsy.
There would be no difficulty in getting Parliament to
pass a more stringent regulation for death-certificates
without much discussion, and there is no reason why
Sir Matthew White Ridley should not turn his attention
to the matter, and, with such medical advice as the
Health Department of the Local Government Board
will be pleased to lend him, propose a necessary little
bill to the House of Commons next February."
But nearly ten years have passed away since these
warning notes were sounded, and still nothing has
302 DEATH-CERTIFICATION.
been done by the Legislature to meet the crying evil
in our midst. Surely it is high time that Parliament
seriously considered this important question, and took
steps to safeguard the terrible possibilities, which,
under the present lax system of death certification
and examination, might at any moment overtake any
subject of this realm.
CHAPTER XIX.
SUGGESTIONS FOR PREVENTION.
UNRELIABILITY OF DEATH SIGNS.
" THERE is no more any pathognomonic sign to
determine the moment of death than there is to
establish the diagnosis of typhoid fever. Just as in
the latter it is a combination of symptoms observed
which makes the diagnosis sure, so in the case of
death it is a collection of signs which gives the
physician absolute certainty, and he alone can estimate
their value." Thus spoke Dr. Brouardel during the
course of his lectures on " Death and Sudden Death,"
delivered to the students of the Faculty of Medicine,
Paris ; and we have shown with some degree of clear-
ness in chapter xiii. (" Signs of Death," pp. 219-247)
that no single evidence of presumed death can be
absolutely relied upon, and that nothing but the sign
of putrefaction can afford evidence beyond dispute.
The learned Dr. Vigne, of Rouen, who won the
respect of his fellow-citizens during a long and honour-
able career, was for many years engaged in the study
of this question, and published the result of his re-
searches shortly before his death. Convinced that the
resources of science were insufficient to distinguish
real from apparent death, he left testamentary instruc-
tions to provide against his own premature burial.
(" Des Inhumations Precipitees," p. 83, by Lenormand.)
304 SUGGESTIONS FOR PREVENTION.
The noteworthy provision in the will of the late
Herbert Spencer, to the effect that " my body shall
be placed in a coffin with a loose lid easily opened
from below," implies a sufficiently obvious direction,
and manifests that the dread of eminent men abroad
is shared by equally eminent men in this country.
Dr. Winslow, a French physician, who had on two
different: occasions very nearly fallen a victim to pre-
mature burial, having been laid out for dead, chose for
the subject of his thesis before the Paris Faculty of
Medicine, " Les moyens les plus propres a reconnaitre
la realite cle la mort." Dr. Winslow may be said to
have been the pioneer of a movement in France for
exposing the danger, and for educating the public into
the necessity of reforms in the mode of treating the
apparent dead ; and although his efforts and warnings
were as of one crying in the wilderness or amongst
an apathetic people, with a legislature apparently
uninfluenced either by facts or by reason, they were
never relaxed. Numerous writers have since confirmed
the truth of Dr. Winslow's contention by facts within
their own experience, and it is believed that legislation
in France cannot be much longer delayed.
That the risk of premature burial is not an imaginary
one has been shown by the citation in this volume of
cases of death-like trance which have baffled the ablest
of medical experts ; also the instances of numerous
narrow escapes from this terrible occurrence, and of
others where the victims were suffocated before timely
aid could be obtained, most of which are drawn from
medical sources. The painful reality is also shown by
the multitude of preventive measures suggested by
UNRELIABILITY OF DEATH SIGNS. , 305
medical authorities, and by the ingenious contrivances
of those who have made this distressing subject one of
patient and laborious research. Several of the remedies
suggested for adoption in cataleptic cases are really
homicidal, or seriously mutilative ; many of them are
impracticable, and have been shown by Hufelancl,
Lenormand, Richardson, Hartmann, Bouchut, Fletcher,
and Gannal, to be delusive. The merits and demerits
of some of these methods might be inquired into by
the appointment of a Parliamentary Committee, or a
Royal Commission, as a supplement to that appointed
in 1893, by Mr. Asquith, on Death Certification.
TESTS OF THE SENSES.
From time immemorial it has been the custom in
the East, and even in some parts of the Continent, to
place women around a dead man's bed to cry and
howl for the purpose of awaking him should he be
only apparently dead. Similarly, not only the auditory
but the olfactory nerves have been submitted to attack,
by holding beneath the nose the strongest and most
offensive substances. Pricking the skin with sharp
instruments has also been adopted, and one savant,
Josat by name, obtained first prize at the Academy
of France for the invention of a pair of clawed forceps
for pinching the nipples of the supposed dead, and this
method held premier place as a means of distinguishing
real from apparent death until it was demonstrated that
subjects under profound hysteria were as indifferent
to this painfully acute process as the dead. Even
the eye has been studied with a view to establishing
a definite conclusion : it has been asserted that,
306 SUGGESTIONS FOR PREVENTION.
providing the lids remain open, the conjunctiva and
sclerotic will present a characteristic brown hue. And
a further plan, which created some stir at the time of
its announcement, consisted in photographing the retina
of the eye immediately after supposed death, which, it
was asserted, retained an image of the object last
gazed upon. But this, and all the preceding tests
affecting the senses, have proved to be fallacious.
THE BLISTER TEST.
A good deal of importance has been attached to the
difference between a blister raised during life and one
produced after death. Mr. George T. Angell, the
editor of Dumb Animals, Boston, U.S., whose father was
pronounced by his physician dead, and returned to con-
sciousness after preparations for the funeral had been
made, has repeatedly alluded to the subject in his paper,
and published preventive suggestions at various times,
including one from a physician, who, having been called
to a man who had been dead twenty-four hours, lighted
a match and applied it to the end of one of the fingers
of the corpse, when a blister was formed, and, restoratives
being applied, the man recovered. The physician adds
the following conclusion: "If you are alive you cannot
burn your hand without raising a blister; if you were
dead, and flames should come in contact with any part
of your body, no blister would appear, and the flesh
would be burned."
A similar idea was promulgated in a letter to the
British Medical Journal, January 18, 1896, under the
title of " Living or Dead," by J. Milford Barnett, M.D.
Edin., of Belfast:—
THE BLISTER TEST. 3O/
"Burial alive, though of exceedingly rare occurrence, sometimes
does happen, and calls for increased attention to the means of
detecting with certainty the presence of vitality, however feeble.
The ordinary means of deciding the vital question are known to
all persons. Auscultation may detect the enfeebled heart-beat,
while the electric battery can elicit any existing muscular con-
tractility. Conditions of trance are occasionally almost mystical
in their profundity (Brahmin trance), and a simple and ready-
to-hand test to decide whether death has occurred is of prime
importance. We can ascertain whether or not life still lingers
in uncertain cases by applying (say) to the back of the forearm
a small stream of boiling water directly from the kettle. If life
is present, the boiling water will soon and unfailingly raise a
blister where applied, and the blister will contain fluid, the serum
of the blood. The production of the serum blister being essen-
tially a vital process, its production or non-production becomes
an infallible test, and determines the question. This test, not
generally known, should be widely proclaimed."
It is a fact, however, that life may be so torpid and
inactive as to be unable to respond to the irritation
of heat or blisters, or even to the application of red-
hot irons. Upon the other hand, trustworthy authori-
ties have declared that the phenomenon of a serum
blister is not limited to life ; a burn may raise a
blister in a dead body soon after actual death, but
there will most probably be an absence of areola —
i.e., a red inflammatory ring. The blister test is one
which has so repeatedly failed that it cannot be relied
upon.
THE AUSCULTATION TEST.
The stethoscope, which is regarded by many medi-
cal practitioners as an infallible means of preventing
premature burial, has proved a broken reed in hundreds
of cases, and can be of use only when applied with
308 SUGGESTIONS FOR PREVENTION.
other tests. (See pp. 223-4.) Dr. Roger S. Chew, of
Calcutta, writes to me, February, 1896: —
"The British Medical Journal, September 28, 1895,
tells us that the careful use of the stethescope will
enable a medical man to distinguish a living from a
dead body. Auscultation may give startling results,
and the body yet be absolutely dead. I recollect an
instance of death from cobra-bite, when, though decom-
position had set in, the relatives refused to believe she
was dead, because one of them declared that, though
he did not see her chest rise and fall, he had distinctly
heard her sigh. A medical man was called in, applied
the stethoscope over her thorax, and declared he could
hear sounds from her lungs, and a peculiar 'sough}
* sough ' towards the apex of the heart. So far he was
right, but as the girl had already been dead some
fourteen hours, and the weather was warm, the sounds
he heard were those of the escape of the putrefactive
gases bubbling upward, and unable to find exit, as her
mouth was closed with a chin-bandage, and her nostrils
plugged with mucus. To convince the parents that the
girl was really dead, I offered to perform artificial respira-
tion, to which end I untied the bandage, prized open
her jaws, and pressed heavily on her thorax, when some
of the imprisoned gases escaped, emitting an abomin-
able odour that brought conviction of the girl being
beyond all hope.
" In another case, that of my son, aged two years,
after a series of brain symptoms and severe clonic
convulsions preceding an outbreak of confluent small-
pox, the stethoscope told me, and a medical friend
who was present, that my little boy had ceased to
THE AUSCULTATION TEST. 309
exist ; but a liberal application of ice to his head and
cardiac region, together with violent friction and
artificial respiration vigorously employed for forty
minutes, restored the child to me, and I thanked God
that I had refused to accept the evidence of the
stethoscope as final."
THE ELECTRICITY TEST.
The application of the electric current is a powerful
restorative agent in cases of suspended animation, if
judiciously applied. When Ruben Korff invented his
coil it was urged by many that a coil might be kept
in every church in order to test each body before
the funeral ceremony was proceeded with. Sir B. W.
Richardson attached comparatively great importance
to this test, but it must be remembered that electric
excitability will last for some time after death — until
rigor mortis sets in.
Struve in his essay, " Suspended Animation," p. 151,
under the head of " Apparent Death From a Fall,"
says : — " A girl, three years of age, fell from a window
two stories high upon the. pavement. Though she was
considered as lifeless, Mr. Squires, a natural philosopher,
applied electricity. Almost twenty minutes elapsed
before the shocks produced any effect. At last, when
some of the electric force pervaded the breast, he
observed a slight motion of the heart. The child soon
after began to breath and groan with great difficulty,
and after some minutes a vomiting ensued. For a few
days the patient remained in a state of stupefaction, but
in the course of a week she was perfectly restored to
health."
310 SUGGESTIONS FOR PREVENTION.
Referring to the subject of premature burial, Dr. W.
S. Hedley, writing to the Lancet, October 5, 1895,
says : — Forty years ago the subject was investigated
by Crimotel, twenty years later by Rosenthal, and more
recently by Onimus. It seems safe to say that in no
disease, certainly in none of those conditions usually
enumerated as likely to be mistaken for death, is
galvanic and faradaic excitability abolished in every
muscle of the body. On the other hand, electro-
muscular contractility disappears in all the muscles
within a few hours after death (generally ninety minutes
to three hours, according to Rosenthal), its persistence
varying to some extent with the particular muscle
examined (i), and with the mode of death (2). There-
fore, if electro-muscular contractility be present in any
muscle, it means life or death only a few hours before.
It is clear that no interment or post-mortem examination
ought to take place so long as there is any flicker. of
electric excitability. To me it seems almost equally
obvious that in all doubtful cases, sometimes in sudden
death, and often to allay the anxiety of friends, this
test ought to be applied, and applied by one who is
accustomed to handle electric currents for purposes of
diagnosis."
The apparatus for applying electrical currents, long
used by the Humane Society for restoration of the
drowned, • might with advantage be kept at public
mortuaries, for use in cases of apparent death due to
other causes, where decomposition has not manifested
itself. The Weather Bureau at Washington advises
those who are in the neighbourhood of persons struck
by lightning to make immediate efforts to restore
THE ELECTRICITY TEST. 311
consciousness, because the effect of lightning is to
suspend animation rather than to produce death.
Respiration and circulation should be stimulated, and
the usual remedies for relief in such cases should be
administered for at least an hour before giving up
the victim as dead.
Dr. Moore Russell Fletcher says : — " When persons
without pulse or breathing are found in bed, in the
field, or elsewhere, treat them in such manner as will
restore from stroke of lightning, paralysis, or suspended
animation from catalepsy, trance, or somnambulism, and
continue the treatment until resuscitation rewards the
exertions, or decomposition is evident." — " Suspended
Animation," pp. 7, 8.
HYPODERMIC INJECTIONS TEST.
Mr. E. E. Carpmael, of the Medical Department,
Berkeley University, U S.A., recommends, in the
Morning Post, London, September 19, 1895, the injec-
tion of strychnine in " a supposed corpse " ; while
" Medicus," in the Daily Chronicle, September 17, 1895,
considers that post-mortems " would be to the advan-
tage of the patient, to his relations, to science, and
the community at large." No doubt either of these
plans would prevent live sepulture, by killing the
cataleptic subject ; while " M.R.C.S.," in Morning Post,
September 20, says : — " Obviously the simplest and
best proof of death is putrefaction — shown chiefly by
the discolouration of the abdomen."
A correspondent in the English Mechanic, October
2 5) ^95) savs : — " I have long advised hypodermic
injection of morphia before placing in coffin for
312 SUGGESTIONS FOR PREVENTION.
burial. Ex Jiypothesi, the vital spark is not supposed
to have expired, and the circulatory system not finally
stopped. Hence the hypodermic injection cannot be
futile."
Dr. Donnellan reports a case of the passage of a
current of one thousand volts through a man, which
instantly caused coma, dilated pupils, pallor of the
face, and sweating ; delirium and tonic, alternating
\vith clonic, spasms followed. The pulse was eighty.
The respiration, at first stertorous, passed into the
Cheyne- Stokes type. After the injection, first of
morphia, and then of strychnia, the patient fell into
a deep sleep, from which he awoke convalescent. —
" Centralblatt fur die medicinischen Wissenschaften."
DR. ICARD'S DISCOVERY.
The most remarkable of the hypodermic injections is
that of Dr. S. Icard of Marseilles, who claims to have
discovered an infallible test for distinguishing between
persons actually or only apparently dead. It has
received the honour of recognition on two occasions
by the Institute of France (Academic des Sciences).
The fluid he uses consists of a weak solution of
Fluorescine, to which he has given the name of Kar-
minine. This, when sufficiently diluted, ceases to be
poisonous. If this solution, it is alleged, be injected
under the skin of a living person, in two minutes the
skin, especially the mucous membrane, is strongly
coloured, and the body has the appearance of suffering
from an attack of acute jaundice. The whole of the
eyes is said to assume a clear green tinge, the pupil
almost disappears, and the eye looks as if it were a
DR. ICARD'S DISCOVERY. 313
brilliant emerald set in the face. In two hours all
the phenomena disappear. But in the case of a dead
man the solution produces no effect.
ARTIFICIAL RESPIRATION.
A medical correspondent, writing from Dresden,
August 1 8, 1895, sends the following communication
concerning the value of artificial respiration : —
" Major J. H. Patzki, Surgeon, U.S. Army, reports
that in 1882, at St. Augustine, Florida, a lady patient
of his had an attack of tetanus, caused by a scratch
upon her foot by a nail while bathing. The convulsive
symptoms commenced in the muscles of the face, and
increased in violence in spite of energetic treatment,
until the fifth day, when the respiratory muscles
became involved. The breathing was completely sus-
pended by the spasmodic action, and the radial and
carotid pulse ceased. The cardiac sounds became
utterly inaudible to careful stethoscopic examination
repeatedly employed. The lady assumed all the
appearances of death, and there was rigor mortis, the
result of muscular spasm. Artificial respiration was
resorted to, but not until after the expiration of
eighteen minutes did the first faint efforts of respira-
tion, and a feeble action of the heart, become per-
ceptible. Artificial respiration was continued for an
hour afterwards, and the life of the patient was saved,
although the muscular spasms continued to some extent
for six days.
"This case is instructive in showing that tetanus,
when it involves the chest, may produce a state of
apparent death, by interfering with the respiratory
21
SUGGESTIONS FOR PREVENTION.
and cardiac functions ; and that artificial respiration,
if persistently employed, may rescue patients so affected
from the perils of apparent death."
AN INSTRUCTIVE ARTICLE.
The following extracts from an instructive but ap-
parently forgotten article in Dickens' " All the Year
Round," July, 1869 ( a propos of a pamphlet, " Lettre
sur la Mort Apparente, les Consequences Reelles des
Inhumations Precipitees, et le Temps pendant lequel
peut persister 1'Aptitude a etre rappelle a la Vie," by
the late regretted Dr. Charles Londe), afford valuable
suggestions : —
"Suffocation by foul air and mephitical gas is not a rare form
of death in the United Kingdom. It is possible that suspended
animation may now and then have been mistaken for the absolute
extinction of life. Dr. Londe gives an instructive case to the
purpose. At the extremity of a large grocer's shop, a close,
narrow corner, or rather hole, was the sleeping-place of the shop-
man who managed the night sale till the shop was closed, and
who opened the shutters at four in the morning. On the i6th
of January, 1825, there were loud knocks at the grocer's door. As
nobody stirred to open it, the grocer rose himself, grumbling at
the shopman's laziness, and, proceeding to his sleeping-hole to
scold him, he found him motionless in bed, completely deprived
of consciousness. Terror-struck by the idea of sudden death, he
immediately sent in search of a doctor, who suspected a case of
asphyxia by mephitism. His suspicions were confirmed by the
sight of a night-lamp, which had gone out, although supplied with
oil and wick, and by a portable stove containing the remains of
charcoal partly reduced to ashes. In spite of a severe frost, he
immediately had the patient taken into the open air, and kept on
a chair in a position as nearly vertical as possible. The limbs of
the sufferer hung loose and drooping, the pupils were motionless,
with no trace either of breathing or pulsation of the heart or
AN INSTRUCTIVE ARTICLE. 315
arteries ; in short, there were all the signs of death. The most
approved modes of restoring animation were persisted in for a
long while without success. At last, about three in the afternoon
— that is, after eleven hours' continued exertion — a slight move-
ment was heard in the region of the heart. A few hours after-
wards the patient opened his eyes, regained consciousness, and
was able to converse with the spectators attracted by his resurrec-
tion. Dr. Londe draws the same conclusions as before — namely,
that persons suffocated by mephitism are not unfrequently buried
•when they might be saved."
"We have had cholera in Great Britain, and we may have it
again. At such trying times, if ever, hurried interments are not
merely excusable, but almost unavoidable. Nevertheless, one of
the peculiarities of that fearful disease is to bring on some of the
•symptoms of death — the prostration, the coldness, and the dull
livid hues — long before life has taken its departure. Now, Dr.
Londe states, as an acknowledged fact, that patients pronounced
dead of cholera have been repeatedly seen to move one or more
of their limbs after death. While M. Trachez (who had been sent
to Poland to study the cholera) was opening a subject in the
dead-house of the Bagatelle Hospital, in Warsaw, he saw another
body (that of a woman of fifty, who had died in two days, having
her eyes still bright, her joints supple, but the whole surface
extremely cold), which vividly moved its left foot ten or twelve
times in the course of an hour. Afterwards the right foot parti-
cipated in the same movement, but very feebly. M. Trachez sent
for Mr. Searle, an English surgeon, to direct his attention to the
phenomenon. Mr. Searle had often remarked it. The woman,
nevertheless, was left in the dissecting-room, and thence taken to
the cemetery. Several other medical men stated that they had
made similar observations. From which M. Trachez draws the
inference : ' It is allowable to think that many cholera patients
have been buried alive.' "
" Dr. Veyrat, attached to the Bath Establishment, Aix, Savoy,
was sent for to La Roche (Department of the Yonne), to visit a
cholera patient, Therese X., who had lost all the members of her
family by the same disease. He found her in a complete state of
asphyxia. He opened a vein; not a drop of blood flowed. He
316 SUGGESTIONS FOR PREVENTION.
applied leeches; they bit, and immediately loosed their hold. He
covered the body with stimulant applications, and went to take a
little rest, requesting to be called if the patient manifested any
signs of life. The night and next day passed without any change.
While making preparations for the burial, they noticed a little
blood oozing out of the leech-bites. Dr. Veyrat, informed of the
circumstance, entered the chamber just as the nurse was about to
wrap the corpse in its winding-sheet. Suddenly a rattling noise
issued from Therese's chest. She opened her eyes, and in a
hollow voice said to the nurse : ' What are you doing here ? I
am not dead. Get away with you.' She recovered, and felt no
other inconvenience than a deafness, which lasted about two
months."
"The attention of the French Government has been once
more directed to the subject. The petitioners have requested,
as a precaution, that all burials for the future should, in
the first instance, be only provisional. Before filling a grave,
a communication .is to be made between the coffin and the
upper atmosphere by means of a respiratory tube ; and the
grave is not to be finally closed until all hope of life is
abandoned. These precautions, it will be seen at once, how-
ever good in theory, are scarcely practicable. Others have
demanded the general establishment of mortuary chambers,
or dead-houses, like those in Germany. And not only the peti-
tioners, but several senators, seem to consider that measure
the full solution of the problem. Article 77 of the Civil Code
prescribes a delay of twenty-four hours only, which appears to
them to be insufficient, since, they urge, it presumes the certainty
hat death has taken place only after putrefactive decomposition
has set in. Now, a much longer time than twenty-four hours
may elapse before that decomposition manifests itself. Deposit,
therefore, your dead in a mortuary chapel, until you are perfectly
sure, from the evidence of your senses, that life is utterly and
hopelessly extinct.
" Although the French Government is anxious to enforce
throughout the whole empire the rules carried out in Paris, it is
to be feared that great difficulties lie in the way. The verifica-
tion of deaths on so enormous a scale, with strict minuteness,.
AN INSTRUCTIVE ARTICLE. 317
is almost impracticable. But even if it were not, many timid
persons would say : ' Who is to assure us of the correctness of
the doctor's observations ? Unfortunately, too many terrible
examples of their fallibility are on record. The professional
man is pressed for time. He pays a passing visit ; gives a
hurried glance ; and a fatal mistake is so easily made ! ' Public
opinion will not be reassured until you can show, every time a
death occurs, an irrefutable demonstration that life has departed.
" M. de Parville now announces the possibility of this great
desideratum. He professes to place in anyone's hands a self-
acting apparatus, which would declare not only whether the death
be real, but would leave in the hands of the experimenter a written
proof of the reality of the death. The scheme is this : It is well
known that atropine — the active principle of belladonna — possesses
the property of considerably dilating the pupil of the eye.
Oculists constantly make use of it when they want to perform
an operation, or to examine the interior of the eye. Now, M. le
Docteur Bouchut has shown that atropine has no action on the
pupil when death is real. In a state of lethargy, the pupil, under
the influence of a few drops of atropine, dilates in the course
of a few minutes ; the dilatation also takes place a few instants
after death ; but it ceases absolutely in a quarter of an hour, or
half an hour at the very longest ; consequently the enlargement
of the pupil is a certain sign that death is only apparent.
"This premised, imagine a little camera obscura, scarcely so
big as an opera-glass, containing a slip of photographic paper,
which is kept unrolling for five-and-twenty or thirty minutes by
means of clockwork. The apparatus, placed a short distance in
front of the dead person's eye, will depict on the paper the
pupil of the eye, which will have been previously moistened
with a few drops of atropine. It is evident that, as the paper
slides before the eye of the corpse, if the pupil dilate, its
photographic image will be dilated ; if, on the contrary, it
remains unchanged, the image will retain its original size. An
inspection of the paper then enables the experimenter to read
upon it whether the death is real or apparent only. This sort
of declaration can be handed to the civil officer, who will give
a permit to bury in return.
3
1 8 SUGGESTIONS FOR PREVENTION.
"By this simple method a hasty or careless certificate of death
becomes impossible. The instrument applies the test, and counts
the minutes. The doctor and the civil officer are relieved from
further responsibility. The paper gives evidence that the verifi-
cation has actually and carefully been made ; for, suppose that
half an hour is required to produce a test that can be relied
on, the length of the strip of paper unrolled marks the time
during which the experiment has been continued. An apparatus
of the kind might be placed in the hands of the minister or
one of the notables of every parish. Such a system would
silence the apprehensions of the most timid ; fears, natural
enough, would disappear, and the world would be shocked by
no fresh cases of premature burial."
The authors have not heard whether this ingenious
contrivance had been put into practice, or with what
result.
PRIZES FOR DISCOVERIES.
Various prizes have been offered, and awards made,
by scientific and medical societies, but, with two excep-
tions, the so-called proofs of death for which the
awards have been given are deemed unsatisfactory.
The most notable of the prizes is that of the Marquis
d'Ourches, who by his will bequeathed the sum of
twenty thousand francs to be given to the author of
the discovery of a simple and common means of
recognising beyond doubt the absolute signs of death,
by such a test as could be adopted by poor villagers
without technical instruction. The Marquis d'Ourches
left also a prize of five thousand francs for a similar
discovery, but requiring the intervention of an expert.
M. Pierre Manni, Professor at the University of Rome,
offered a prize, which was awarded to Dr. E. Bouchut,
in 1846. And M. Dusgate, by will, dated January 11,
PRIZES FOR DISCOVERIES. 319
1872, bequeathed to the French Academy of Sciences
a sufficient sum in French Rentes, to found a quin-
quennial prize of two thousand five hundred francs
to the author of the best work on the diagnostic signs
of death, and the means of preventing premature
interments. A decree of November 27, 1874, authorised
the Academy to accept this legacy.
The British Medical Journal, January 21, 1893, p. 145,
reports, through its Paris correspondent, the first award.
" The Academic des Sciences proposed as the subject
for the Dusgate Prize for 1890, 'The Signs of Death,
and the Means of Preventing Premature Burial.' The
prize has been awarded to Dr. Maze, who considers
that putrefaction is the only certain sign. He urges
that the deaths should be certified by medical men on
oath ; also that in every cemetery there should be a
mortuary where dead bodies can be deposited, and
that burial should take place only when putrefactive
changes set in. Cremation should be adopted."
The second prize of 1895 and the third prize of 1900
have been awarded to Dr. Icard for his discovery,
mentioned on page 312.
CHAPTER XX.
COUNT KARNICE-KARNICKFS INVENTION.
THE ORIGIN OF THE IDEA.
I HAVE thought it advisable to devote a special chapter
to the consideration of Count Karnice-Karnicki's in-
genious invention, which has attracted so much attention
on the Continent that many thousands of persons in
France have left instructions in their wills for this
scheme to be adopted at their interment, and a society
is already formed in the United States for furthering
the use of the system.
The Count is a Russian nobleman, the Chamberlain
to the Czar and Doctor of the Law Faculty of the
University of Louvain. He was first aroused to the
horror of premature burial when attending the funeral
of a young Belgian girl, who was awakened out of
her lethargy by the first shovelfuls of earth thrown
upon her coffin after being lowered into the grave,
and her piteous screams have haunted him ever since.
For the prevention of such tragic occurrences, he
set himself the task of providing some simple means
which would be within the reach of rich and poor
alike. The granting of a certificate, he felt, gave
no security ; waiting mortuaries were not likely to be
provided, except in large towns ; and, unless the law
of the country permitted a body to remain under
observation until putrefaction set in, there was no
actual safeguard against premature burial.
COUNT KARNICE-KARNICKI'S INVENTION.
321
THE APPARATUS DESCRIBED.
Broadly speaking, it consists of a long tube, about
three and a half inches diameter, and a hermetically-
sealed box. The tube is fixed into an aperture in the
coffin as soon as the latter is lowered into the grave.
ifi
322 COUNT KARNICE-KARNICKI'S INVENTION.
Xo gases can escape from the tomb into the outer air,
as the metallic box into which the upper end of the
tube enters cannot be opened from the outside.
On the chest of the supposed dead body is placed
a glass ball, several inches in diameter, attached to
a spring which communicates through the tube with
an iron box above ground.
On the slightest movement of the chest wall, as in the
act of marked breathing, or movement of the body, the
glass ball releases a spring which causes the lid of the
iron box to fly open immediately, thus admitting both
air and light to the coffin. At the same time a flag
rises perpendicularly about four feet above the ground,
and a bell is set ringing which continues for about
half an hour. In front of the box, an electric lamp
burns which gives light after sunset to the coffin below.
The tube acts also as a speaking tube, and the voice of
the inmate of the coffin, however feeble, is intensified.
The working ability of the apparatus has been tested
by its application to individuals who volunteered to be
coffined, and who found that the mere act of breathing
was sufficient to produce all the phenomena mentioned
above.
The price of the complete apparatus is exceedingly
reasonable, only about twelve shillings ; and it is sug-
gested, in order that the very poorest may have the
advantage of this simple safeguard, that authorities
should keep a supply for hiring out, and putting to
each coffin for at least a fortnight.
It is to be hoped that the burial and sanitary
authorities in the United Kingdom will at least enquire
into the merits of this unique invention.
CHAPTER XXL
CREMATION AS A PREVENTIVE.
SIR HENRY THOMPSON'S OPINION.
AMONGST the numerous suggestions made by corre-
spondents in the press with a view of preventing live
sepulture, none has been more frequently put forward
than that of cremation. Sir Henry Thompson, the
president of the Cremation Society of England, in
the second edition of his admirable volume, " Modern
Cremation: Its History and Practice," p. 41, observes:—
" There is a source of very painful dread — as I have
reason to know — little talked of, it is true, but keenly
felt by many persons at some time or another, the
horror of which to some is inexpressible. It is the
dread of a premature burial — the fear lest some deep
trance should be mistaken for death, and that the
awakening should take place too late. Happily such
occurrences must be exceedingly rare, especially in this
country, where the interval between death and burial
is considerable, and the fear is almost a groundless
one. Still, the conviction that such a fate is possible
—which cannot be altogether denied — will always be
a source of severe trial to some. With cremation no
such catastrophe could ever occur; and the complete-
ness of a properly conducted process would render
death instantaneous and painless, if by any unhappy
chance an individual so circumstanced were submitted
SIR HENRY THOMPSON'S OPINION. 325
to it. But the guarantee against this danger would
be doubled, since inspection of the entire body must
of necessity immediately precede the act of cremation,
no such inspection being possible under the present
system."
PROTECTION NOT ABSOLUTE.
While agreeing with this distinguished authority as
to the advantages of cremation from the sanitary and
aesthetic point of view, which he dwells upon in the
treatise referred to, and admitting that a certain
amount of protection against live burial is obtainable
by means of the dual medical inspection, we cannot
agree that this protection is absolute. Cases of trance
are on record where some half-a-dozen doctors, after
careful examinations, have pronounced a cataleptic
patient to be dead, and the patient, in defiance of
their united opinion, has recovered consciousness, and
been restored to health. In the terrible death of
Signor Castaldi, an Italian stationmaster, from suffoca-
tion in a coffin, it was reported in the press that the
medical witnesses swore at the inquest, previous to his
removal to the cemetery mortuary, where his agonising
struggle for life occurred, that he had died from heart
disease, and it was only after the tragedy had happened
the doctors discovered that the unfortunate man, whom
they had pronounced dead, was in a state of catalepsy.
Dr. Franz Hartmann, in his " Premature Burial,"
quotes the two following cases amongst many others: —
" Madame de P , aged eighteen years, and subject
to hysteria, apparently died, and for forty hours she
presented all the signs of real death. All possible
means of restoring her to life were taken, but proved
326 CREMATION AS A PREVENTIVE.
of no avail. Five physicians of Lyons were called in,
and they finally agreed, positively, that the lady was
really dead. The funeral preparations were made ;
but owing to the supplications of a sister of the
deceased the burial was delayed, when after a while
the patient recovered. She said that she had been
all the time aware of all that was going on, without
being able to give a sign, and without even being
desirous of attempting it." (F. Kempner, p. 38.)
"In 1842 a remarkable affair occupied the attention
of the court at the city of Nantes. A man apparently
died, and his death was certified to both by the
attending physicians and the medical inspector ; he was
put into a coffin, and the religious ceremonies were
performed in good style. At the end of the funeral
service, and as he was about to be buried, he awoke
from his trance. The clergy and the undertakers sent
in their accounts for the funeral expenses ; but he
refused to pay them, giving as his reason that he had
not ordered them ; whereupon he was sued for the
money." (F. Kempner, p. 39.)
PREMATURE BURIAL NOT RARE.
Neither can we share the optimistic views of Sir
Henry Thompson as to the rarity of premature inter-
ment. The results of searching and independent
inquiries and study in various countries by each of the
authors of this treatise all point the other way, and
the various authorities, whose names and opinions are
cited elsewhere in this volume, confess their astonish-
ment at the number of cases brought to light during
their investigations. The Rev. H. R. Haweis also, in
PREMATURE BURIAL NOT RARE. 327
his work, " Ashes to Ashes : A Cremation Prelude "
(London, 1895, now out of print), advocates cremation
on the ground of preventing living burial, and quotes
several cases of persons buried while in a state of
trance. During a discussion on the merits and
demerits of cremation in the Birmingham Gazette,
September 17, 1895, Lieutenant-General Phelps, an
able and judicious observer, advocated cremation for
similar reasons, and said that "the use of a crema-
torium would entirely prevent that ghastly accident,
the burial of the living. There is no room to doubt
that this frightful catastrophe is of continual occur-
rence. The phenomena of trance are little understood,
and a certificate of death is held by most of us to
justify the burial of the ' corpse,' dead or alive. Those
of us who object to the risk of being buried alive
should do all in our power to promote the success of
this sanitary contrivance for disposing of our dead."
The writer of the following communication, which
appeared in the Sunday Times, September 6, 1896,
has substantial reasons for preferring cremation to the
risks of burial : —
" BURIAL DANGER AND ITS PREVENTION.
" Madam, — When I was about five years old, my paternal
home was one day plunged into a state of great consternation,
through the sudden apparent death of my father, who had been
sitting up during a part of the previous night, occupied with some
literary work, without a fire (it was in January), which brought on
a death-like numbness, in which he was found the next morning.
The family doctor, who was sent for at once, declared life to be
extinct, but said he could not tell the cause of death until after
the opening of the dead body. My mother, however, who did
not see any reason why a young man of thirty-six should have
328 CREMATION AS A PREVENTIVE.
died without any previous illness, caused the body of my father
to be rubbed for about two hours, which renewed its circulation,
and brought it to life again. My father lived thirty-two years
after that memorable day. Without the prudence of my mother,
he would either have been dissected or buried alive. About
twenty years after that occurrence, I visited the cemetery of
Pere La Chaise (Paris), accompanied by some friends. While
inspecting the monuments of some musical celebrities we heard
a noise from another part of the cemetery, whereto we proceeded
without delay. When we had arrived there we found a strong
body of policemen surrounding an open grave. But in answer
to our inquiring ' what had happened,' we were simply requested
to leave the cemetery at once, which, of course, we had to do.
Neither the portier nor any other person connected with the
burial-ground would give any satisfactory answer to our ques-
tions. We left puzzled. But a week after, a young lady, who
had been of our party the week before, went again to the Pere
la Chaise, determined to penetrate the mystery, in which
endeavour she succeeded, partly through persuasion and partly
through the gift of a twenty-franc piece to a grave-digger, who
then told her the following story : — A poor young man of twenty-
one years had been buried on the day of our visit. When
the mourners had left the cemetery, the grave-digger who was
occupied in filling up the grave heard some noise coming from
below. He hastened to the superintendent of the cemetery,,
imploring him to have the coffin opened, which, however, the
superintendent could not do without the permission and the
presence of the Commissaire de Police of that district. When
the Commissaire appeared at last with his men, all was silent
in the grave. But he had the coffin opened, nevertheless, ' to
appease the mind of that poor grave-digger,' as he mockingly
said. But great was the horror of the Commissaire de Police
and his followers when the coffin was opened. The unfortunate
young man (who was now quite dead) had been buried alive,
recovered consciousness in his grave, scratched his face, bitten
off the tips of his fingers, and turned round in his coffin, until
suffocation put an end to his sufferings, which, if not long,.
must have been terrible. The Parisian newspapers did not
BURIED ALIVE. 329
mention the case. They were probably forbidden by the French
Government to do so. But would it not have been wiser to let
the whole world know of it, and thereby prevent repetitions of
such dreadful occurrences? A similar case of live sepulture
occurred in a village near Wiesbaden some thirty years ago,
where a girl of sixteen was found with the same signs of
suffocation in her coffin as those of that unfortunate young
man in Paris. We are assured by a German authority that
thousands of people are buried alive every year. But why
should this be the case? If people must be buried before they
begin to show signs of putrefaction (which seems to be the
only reliable proof that life is really extinct), why not shorten
their sufferings, in case of resuscitation, by opening an artery
before they are buried ? There is still much prejudice against
the cremation of dead bodies, although two great facts are
decidedly in its favour— viz., the impossibility of recovering
consciousness when once inserted in the crematory oven, and
the prevention of the unhealthiness which the slow process of
putrefaction must entail. — Yours, etc.,
"London." " J. H. BONAWITZ."
PRECAUTIONS OF THE CREMATION SOCIETY.
Having regard to the importance of the subject, the
author wrote to the hon. secretary of the Cremation
Society of England, and received the following reply,
dated 8 New Cavendish Street, London, W. : —
" With reference to your enquiry as to the steps
adopted to prevent a person in a trance being cremated,
I may say that this society has not made any special
provision in that respect. You will notice, however,
that, before a cremation can be carried out, the cause
of death must be certified without the slightest shadow
of doubt by two duly qualified medical men. This
being so, I think there is less likelihood of a person
22
330 CREMATION AS A PREVENTIVE.
who is simply in a trance being cremated than buried,
one doctor's certificate being sufficient in the latter
" (Signed) T. C. SWINBURNE-HANHAM."
Since the above was written, Sir Henry Thompson
has published the fourth edition of his work, and in
pp. 91, 92, the following significant words have been
added : —
" In connection with this subject, it should never be
forgotten that there is but one really trustworthy
proof that death has occurred in any given instance,
viz., the presence of a manifest sign of decomposition.
That condition is always ascertainable, at all events to
the professional eye, and it should always be verified
before a certificate of death is signed. Unhappily, no
special attention to it is demanded under the present
national system of registration. In the enquiry invari-
ably adopted by the Cremation Society, the inspection
is enforced, and the answer must be recorded by the
medical man who signs the certificate."
Sir Henry then adds, in a letter to the Sf. James's
Gazette of 6th December, 1892 : —
" It should be remembered that the body is sent
(i.e., to cremation) not in a coffin, but in a slight shell,
to. facilitate the inspection above referred to.
" Were these precautions enforced by the State in
every case of death, whether for cremation or other-
wise, there would be no fear at all in relation to the
subj'ect "(Signed) HENRY THOMSON,
" President of the Cremation
Society of England.
"35 Wimpole Street."
CREMATION SOCIETY'S PRECAUTION. 331
From this we conclude that the Cremation Society
now adopts the precaution of waiting until signs of
decomposition are apparent before committing a body
to the flames. This is, indeed, the only certain way
by which Mr. Swinburne- Hanham's assurance that
death is "certified without the slightest shadow of a
doubt " could be held to be satisfactory.
PREJUDICE AGAINST CREMATION.
There can be no question that popular sentiment is
opposed to cremation largely on the ground that the
latter is associated with paganism, and that Christianity
teaches reverence for the body. Hence cremation in
this country makes but little progress comparatively.
Dealing with this phase of the question, the Rev.
John Page Hopps, in Light, July 4, 1896, says: — "We
are told that respect for the dead urges to burial as
against cremation, but many are now very keenly feel-
ing the reverse of this. They can bring the mind to
bear the liberation of the body by one swift act of
disintegration and purifying, but cannot overcome the
shrinking from subjecting it to the foul and lingering
processes of the grave — or, perchance, to the horror of
recovering consciousness in the grave." Mr. Hopps
further states one of the strongest arguments thus : —
" Respect for the living, too, is an urgent motive. The
highest authorities tell us that the air we breathe and the
water we drink are often contaminated by the emanations
of graves. It cannot be right that London, for instance,
with all its inevitable impurities, should add to its foul-
nesses that of trying to live in company with thousands
upon thousands of decaying bodies in its very midst."
332 CREMATION AS A PREVENTIVE.
To dispose of the dead decently, and at the same
time without injury to the living, is one of the first
obligations of civilised communities, and cremation
seems best calculated to fulfil the conditions. Zymotic
diseases, such as typhus, scarlatina, and the plague,
have been traced in certain instances to emanations
from burial-grounds.
Dr. Charles Creighton, in his i: History of Epidemics
in Britain," vol. i., p. 336, says: — "The grand provoca-
tive of plague was no obvious nuisance above ground,
but the loading of the soil, generation after generation,
with an immense quantity of cadaveric matters, which
were diffused in the pores of the ground under the
feet of the living, to rise in emanations more deadly
in one season than in another."
It would seem from these experiences as though
there was quite as much truth as poetry in Shake-
speare when he said, " grave-yards yawn, and hell itself
breathes out contagion on the world." Before many
years it is not unlikely that cremation in this as in
some other countries will be made obligatory in cases
of death from all infectious diseases. As the late
Bishop of Manchester observed, "the earth is not for
the dead, but for the living." Professor Alexander
Wilder, M.D., in his "Perils of Premature Burial,"
1895, p. 16, says: — "I have often wished that the
old Oriental practice of cremation was in fashion
among us. There would then be at least the com-
fortable reflection of no liability to suffocation in a
coffin. The application of fire, however, will generally
rouse the cataleptic person to some manifestation of
life."
CREMATION AS A PREVENTIVE. 333
CREMATION IN ENGLAND AND ABROAD.
In " The London Burial -Grounds," by Mrs. Basil
Holmes, 1896, p. 269, the question is asked: "Are we
ever to allow England to be divided like a chess-board
into towns and burial-places? What we have to consider
is how to dispose of the dead without taking so much
valuable space from the living. In the metropolitan
area alone we have almost filled (and in some places
over-filled) twenty- four new cemeteries within sixty
years, with an area of above six hundred acres; and
this is as nothing compared with the huge extent of
land used for interments just outside the limits of the
metropolis. If the cemeteries are not to extend
indefinitely, they must in time be built upon, or they
must be used for burial over and over again, or the
ground must revert to its original state as agricultural
land, or we must turn our parks and commons into
cemeteries, and let our cemeteries be our only recrea-
tion grounds, which heaven forbid."
According to Dr. Ebenezer Duncan, eight thousand
bodies are buried yearly in Glasgow and its neighbour-
hood, poisoning both air and water, and endangering the
public health. The same state of things has existed in
London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, and other
large towns. The following resolution was unanimously
adopted in the Preventive Medicine Department of a
Health Congress, Glasgow, in July, 1896: — "That in
the opinion of this Congress cremation of the dead,
especially in cases of infectious disease, is a natural and
very desirable hygienic process, and that this Congress
of the British Institute of Public Health use all proper
334 CREMATION AS A PREVENTIVE.
means to urge upon the Government the desirability of
their promoting a measure to enable sanitary authorities,
if they so desire, to build crematoria and to conduct
them under proper superintendence."
During the thirteen years ending 1890 there were
three hundred and three thousand four hundred and
sixty-six deaths from cholera in Japan, and all the
bodies of these persons were cremated. In India, as
we have already shown, cremation is practised under
most of the religious systems, as it is believed that
the soul is not free from its earthly tenement until
the body is reduced to ashes. The method of
burning is slow and cumbersome as compared with
that adopted in Europe; but during the author's last
visit to Ceylon, in the earl}' part of 1896, there was
some talk of establishing a crematorium.
CHAPTER XXII.
WAITING MORTUARIES.
THEIR NECESSITY.
IN La Presse Medicate, Paris, August 17, 1904, appears
a very interesting article by M. Icard, of Marseilles,
occupying more than twelve columns of the journal,
on the subject of " The Danger of Apparent Death."
The writer, who holds a high position in the medical
world, says that for the past twelve years he has
conducted enquiries into every report of alleged
premature burial or of apparent death which has
appeared in the public press, by writing to the
mayor of the town where the event was said to have
taken place, or to some other official capable of
giving authentic information.
Dr. Icard proceeds to state that it would be useless
for him to repeat the numerous facts which he had
published in a preceding work,1 but he goes on to
enumerate in detail some twelve instances of resuscita-
tion which, for the most part, have not been previously
published. The cases he gives are all those of apparent
death, certified as dead in almost every instance by
medical men, but which subsequently " came to life "
just in time to save them from the most horrible of
deaths. In one instance " return to life " took place
1 " La Mort et la Mort Subite." Paris, 1895. Ouvrage couronne
par I'lnstitut de France, Paris, 1897.
336 WAITING MORTUARIES.
in the presence of several doctors whilst the funeral
ceremony over the supposed corpse was solemnly
proceeding. M. K. Boussakis, Professor of Physiology
at the Faculty of Medicine of Athens, was an eye-
witness of this scene. And another well-authenticated
instance was that of a fisherman who had been "dead"
for twenty hours from "apoplexy," and whose body
was cold. He was wrapped and sewn up in his
funeral shroud, and left till the time of burial ; but
on the way to the cemetery the bearers heard muffled
sounds within the coffin, which was accordingly opened.
Three medical men who were passing were appealed
to in order to pronounce on the man's condition.
Restorative means were employed, and in a few days
he was well. This is given on the authority of Dr.
Zacutus Lusitanus, who was present on the occasion.
The writer declares that he has " taken the greatest
pains to verify every case he now publishes," and
" the proof of authenticity is," he says, " of such a
nature as must carry conviction to the minds of the
most sceptical."
In the course of this valuable article, Dr. Icard
draws attention to the waiting mortuaries established
in many towns in Germany, in which the bodies of
the certified dead are deposited until the evidence of
putrefaction is apparent; and he goes on to say: "It
is stated by some authors that there is no instance in
the registers of these mortuaries 'of those resurrections
which are served up as a feast for the popular imagi-
nation/ and they argue from such statements, which
they think cannot be answered, against the reality of
the danger of apparent death. But are not those
REVIVAL IN A MORTUARY. 337
authors," he asks, "who reproach others with credulity
when they cite an instance of apparent death, very
credulous themselves when they affirm, on the faith of
others, their disbelief in cases of resuscitation from
apparent death in German mortuaries?"
One case in particular he gives, details of which
he obtained from the burgomaster of Ludwigshaffen-
sur-Rhin, in Bavaria. On the I3th June, 1903, towards
six o'clock in the evening, a child, four days old, was
brought to the mortuary, whose death had been certified
by a medical man at nine o'clock that morning. The
burgomaster adds that "the doctor examined the child,
and found every sign of death, and ordered it to be
taken to the mortuary." An hour after the body had
been received the child gave signs of life, and it was
subsequently returned to its mother, but it died in
reality that same night.
Now, it is unnecessary to multiply cases. Granted
that only one single unanswerable instance of apparent
death — an instance which has sufficed to baffle the
scrutiny of careful examination by a duly qualified
medical man — be forthcoming, and such case upon
removal to a waiting mortuary has recovered, it would,
we maintain, be a sufficient warrant, not only for
waiting until the only unmistakable sign of death —
putrefaction — is evident, but for providing a suitable
place for the body to wait in. The indifferent sceptic
may reply: "What! would you go to such pains and
expense, when the possibility of a mistake is probably
only one in 50,000, or even more ? " The humanitarian
will promptly answer: "Yes; even if it were only one
in fifty millions, that one is a living human soul." But
338 WAITING MORTUARIES.
we have already proved conclusively that such cases
are anything but rare, and, as Dr. Icard graphically
puts it in the article we have referred to, " if there
are so many truly authentic cases of apparent death
and of premature burial which have come to light, it
is presumable that there are many more, the only
witnesses of which are the boards of the coffin."
THEIR HISTORY.
A writer in the British and Foreign Medico-Chirur-
gical Revieiv, 1855, vol. xv., p. 75, says: — "The earliest
movements in the direction of means for the prevention
of premature interments originated with Winslow, in
France, followed by other well-known writers upon the
signs of death. It was Madame Necker, however, who
embodied their suggestions in a practicable form as
submitted to the National Assembly, in 1792, by
Count Berchshold. In the ninth year of the first
French Republic (1801) a project was entertained for
the erection of six ' temples funeraires ' in Paris, but
came to no good, as attendant evils preponderated.
To Germany belongs the credit of having executed
these designs in such wise that they should not prove
the positive sources of more danger to the living
than could be counterbalanced by the occasional
preservation of an individual from the risk of prema-
ture interment. Believing that this risk had been
prodigiously diminished since the establishment of
these institutions for the reception of cases where
cloubt of the reality of death has existed, Hufeland,
in Weimar, devised the plan that Frankfort-on-the-
Maine incorporated with its reform in sepulture and
THEIR HISTORY. 339
establishment of extra-mural cemeteries, in 1823. The
first modern mortuary was opened at Weimar, Germany
in 1791. Hufeland's plans have subsequently been
adopted and carried out in many other German
States. ... As a sanitary measure the separation
of the dead from the living, especially from among
the crowded poor, would be, apart from the not less
important point of verification of death, an incalculable
benefit. ... It behoves us in this matter to learn
another lesson from our neighbours, and to take
measures to prevent the occurrence of catastrophes
too fearfully horrible to comtemplate in thought, too
dreadful for the most vivid imagination to realise.
Science can hold out no token by which to recognise
the certainty of death. Sanitary police, at least in
England, are indifferent about the risk of a few burials
alive, and thinks it superfluous to prevent their
occurrence."
The extensive literature on this subject shows that the
struggle to bring about the existing mortuary system in
Germany was kept up for many years before it obtained
its measure of success. It was legalised about the year
1795, after the physicians of Germany, France, and
Austria had shown the absolute necessity for it.
Mortuaries have continued in high favour with the
people wherever they have once been properly estab-
lished ; none, so far as the author has been able to
learn, have ever been abolished.
THE LANCET'S APPROVAL.
Referring to the universal fear of burying relatives
alive, the Lancet, September 20, 1845, vol. ii., p. 321,
340 WAITING MORTUARIES.
observed: — " It is but little use to descant upon an evil
without pointing out a remedy. In Frankfort, Munich,
and in various other towns, houses, properly situated,
have been fitted up for the temporary reception of the
dead. Corpses are there deposited immediately after
death, and taken care of until the signs of decomposition
have become unequivocal, medical assistance being at
hand should symptoms of vitality manifest themselves.
By this simple plan all the objections which attend on
the retention of the dead in the dwellings of the poor
may be obviated, and at the same time their dread of
burying their relatives while still alive respected. This
plan is evidently much preferable to that which is
followed in France. In the latter country, in the large
towns, there is in every district a medical inspector of
the dead. The inspector is informed of the death as
soon as it has taken place, and within a very limited
time is bound to inspect the body and give a formal
certificate. This guarantee having been obtained, the
inhumation of the deceased is enforced by law within
two or three days of the death. Notwithstanding this
precaution, cases have occurred, even during the last
few years, which appear to prove that inhumation has
taken place before life was quite extinct. We doubt,
also, whether such early interment could under any
circumstances be enforced in our own country. Some
modification of the German plan is evidently what we
must look for in any system of legislation which may
hereafter be decided on." These admirable suggestions
from the leading medical journal were made more than
half a century ago; since that time, every year has
brought to light cases of living burial, and confirmed
THE LANCET'S APPROVAL. 341
the urgent need of reform; but nothing has been
done until quite recently to awaken public attention to
their importance. The subject is of such a gruesome,
unpleasant, and depressing character that few people
care to have their names associated with a movement
of this character, beneficent though it is, and certain
to save thousands of unfortunate people, particularly
women and children (who are more especially liable
to various forms of suspended animation), from such
tragic occurrences.
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THE MORTUARIES OF MUNICH.
Of all the various methods that have been suggested
or introduced for the prevention of premature inter-
ment, none has been attended with such satisfactory
results as the erection of mortuaries (LeichenhauserJ
in Germany.
Those of Munich are, perhaps, the finest which
have yet been erected, and are replete with every
modern appliance for resuscitation, should such be
necessary, and furnished with every requisite suited
to the refinements of sympathy and taste.
342 WAITING MORTUARIES.
In order to better understand the precise conditions
which should obtain in such establishments, we have
added photographs of parts of these extensive build-
ings, for which we are indebted to the excellent
French journal L Illustration, and from the interesting
description published in its columns we have extracted
many of the following particulars. These particulars,
with the accompanying illustrations, will explain, far
better than any advice we can give, the reform which,
we believe, is urgently needed in our own country.
Waiting mortuaries have existed at Munich since
the beginning of the last century. The custom of
removing bodies to them was at first optional, and,
therefore, was not freely taken advantage of. In
1869, however, at the time of an epidemic of cholera,
a police regulation rendered it obligatory. At first
the inhabitants rebelled, looking upon those who
wished to take away their dead from them as odious ;
but the authorities were very determined, and by
degrees the citizens became used to a custom the
advantages of which are now highly appreciated.
When a death occurs in a house in Munich, the
family at once apprise the police of the fact, and they
themselves have no more to do with the matter. Half
an hour after, a public medical officer arrives, who
confirms the death, and gives permission for the corpse
to be removed. At the Town Hall a whole army of
women, supported by the municipality, is permanently
kept, who are deputed to " lay out " the corpse, etc.
One of these women arrives at the same time as the
doctor ; she washes the corpse, dresses it — usually in
the best ordinary attire — and puts it in the coffin, which
344 WAITING MORTUARIES.
is then conveyed by a hearse to the mortuary. None
of the family accompany it. Everything is done with
the utmost rapidity. According to the regulations, the
body must be removed within twelve hours after
death, or within six hours if the case is contagious.
These rules are strictly observed ; often even at the
end of three or four hours the death chamber is
empty.
Munich has ten mortuaries ; nine are open to those
of every religion, one is reserved for those of the
Jewish faith. It is the mortuary chamber of the North
Mortuary, which is here reproduced.
In an immense room, closed by large glass doors,,
through which the interior can be seen from the outside,
are ranged in three rows twenty sarcophagi, fixed in a
sloping position. The slabs upon which they rest are
supplied with a zinc trench, filled with an antiseptic
fluid. At the head of each coffin a rod is fixed, from
which falls a cord having a metal ring at its extremity.
This cord communicates with a system of bells, and the
least pressure on the rope sets it in motion.
From the moment of its arrival at the mortuary the
coffin is uncovered, and placed on one of the slabs. The
body is raised, and reclines upon a cushion, and the
whole is covered by a profusion of flowers, usually allow-
ing only the head of the corpse to be seen, besides a
large ticket bearing the number of identification. The
hands are crossed upon the breast, and one of the fingers
inserted in the ring. All this is carried out by public
servants, who usually show good taste in these funeral
arrangements. Many families have their dead photo-
graphed like this ; and the coffin is carried into a court
346 WAITING MORTUARIES.
specially kept for this purpose. Owing to the perfect
ventilation and the steadiness of the temperature, no
odour is noticed but the smell of the flowers and the
lighted candles. The relative purity of the atmosphere
is really astonishing.
There is a room for the rich and another for the
poor, adjoining each other. Nothing distinguishes them,
except perhaps the quality of the flowers provided for
the respective classes. The cost is very moderate. The
total charge (not counting the service in the church, or
the price of the certificate) varies from £i to £6.
The body remains exposed thus from forty-eight
to seventy-two hours. The relatives are allowed to
visit, and, also, they may appoint a nun or other
person to watch.
Between the two mortuaries is the caretaker's room
— a narrow cell, containing the bell apparatus, which
is enclosed in a long cupboard, like the case of a
grandfather's clock. For furniture — a table, a chair,
and a couch. Windows look into the mortuary. It
is here that the caretaker passes the greater part of
his existence. He has to make frequent rounds of
inspection, and is not allowed to leave under any
pretext whatever, no matter for how short a time,
unless he leaves a substitute. In the evening he
stretches -himself upon his couch, where the slightest
tinkle of the bell would arouse him. This frequently
happens ; the warning bell is so sensitive that the
least shake of the corpse sets it in motion. But the
guardian is not at all flustered ; various causes may
agitate the bell, and the waking of a corpse is a very
rare occurrence. Nevertheless, the caretaker at once
THE CARETAKER'S ROOM.
347
goes to ascertain the cause of the alarm, and, having
assured himself that the corpse preserves all the signs
of death, he readjusts the cord, and returns to continue
his sleep.
The coffin is closed only a few minutes before
interment, and after a final medical examination has
taken place. Sometimes, when a nervous family wishes
it, the coffin is carried into a separate room, where it
348 WAITING MORTUARIES.
is kept open one or two days longer, often even
making an incision on the heel.
One sad exception, however, to the usual satis-
factory results is recorded by M. Gaubert in his work,
" Les Chambres Mortuaires d'Attente." The incident
he narrates occurred at Munich on 25th January,
1 849, and is as follows :—
" A young man who was asphyxiated by charcoal
had been declared dead by the doctor. After they
had been watching the body twenty-four hours at the
mortuary chamber, the family caused it to be carried
to the church, where it passed the night without the
customary caretaker. The next morning ' the corpse '
was found bathed in its own blood, and the floor
of the church was stained. Restored to consciousness
during the night, and not having any help, the poor
young man had succumbed to haemorrhage, brought
on by the incisions which they blindly practised on
the body of the supposed dead one, to make sure of
his death."
Another instance he gives, also occurred at Munich,
is of a different character, but with a very sad
accompaniment : —
"A 'little child, five years old, was carried to the
Leichenhaiiser, and the corpse was deposited as usual.
The next morning a servant from the mortuary
knocked at the mother's house, carrying a large
bundle in his arms. It was the resuscitated child,
which she was mourning as lost. The transports of
joy she experienced were so great that she- fell down
dead. The child came to life in the mortuary by
REVIVALS AT MUNICH. 349
itself, and when the keeper saw it, it was playing
with the white roses which had been placed on its
shroud."
A gigantic mortuary has recently been built in the
west of Munich, the most perfect in Germany. Under
the central dome are a series of chapels provided for
different religions. On each side is an immense hall,
shut off by big glass doors, which move on rollers
along the ground, where the bodies are placed in one
row. This gallery is flanked by two corridors, one
reserved for the public, the other for the funeral ser-
vice. The warning bells are worked by electricity.
The heating and cooling arrangements are marvellously
organised, keeping a constant temperature of +7 degrees,
which, according to the German doctors, is the most
favourable for preserving the body.
The question suggests itself here : Why should not
the English-speaking peoples accept the long experi-
ence of a philosophical, painstaking, clear-minded people
like the Germans, supported as it is by many sanitary
and medical authorities in France, England, and the
United States, and establish these institutions in
connection with existing cemeteries, with such modifi-
cations as national habits, local tastes, and customs
may dictate ?
THE MORTUARIES OF LONDON.
In sharp contrast to the magnificent waiting mortu-
aries of Munich, Berlin, and other parts of Germany
stand the mortuaries of the English metropolis. They
are nearly all plain, gloomy, and depressing structures of
350 WAITING MORTUARIES.
brick. The best of them comprise a coroner's court-
room, coroner's private room, the caretaker's rooms,
waiting room, post-mortem room, chapel, and viewing
room connected. There is no physician in attendance,
and no autopsies are performed except by surgeons
upon their own cases, or for purposes of inquests.
There are no appliances or conveniences for resuscita-
tion, as all the bodies are regarded as dead, having
been for the most part certified as such by a medical
practitioner, the exceptions being such as are taken
from the water or street by the police, or left there
for inquest. The buildings are usually well lighted,
and some of the rooms contain fire-places, but they
are devoid of taste or ornamentation of any kind.
The bodies are kept in coffins, which, if there is any
odour proceeding from them, are screwed down. Per-
mission is afforded for inspection by doctors or by any
of the family of the deceased on application to the
keeper. These mortuaries are kept clean, and decent
and respectful treatment of the bodies is enforced by
regulations.
By the courtesy of the Clerk to the London County
Council, we have received a " copy of the last return
of coroners' courts, mortuaries, and post-mortem cham-
bers issued by the Council." This return is dated
November 14, 1899. There appears to have been little
alteration since the publication of the 1894 return,
which we noticed in our first edition. In the annual
report, 1902-3, it is said: "Three boroughs are pro-
vided with good mortuaries and post-mortem rooms.
. ... In the remaining boroughs partial or pro-
visional accommodation as to mortuaries, post-mortem
THE MORTUARIES OF LONDON. 351
rooms, and coroners' courts exist, and the question of
the improvement of such accommodation is under con-
sideration." That is, of the twenty-eight boroughs of
which London is composed, only three are declared
to be provided with " good " mortuary accommodation.
At Shoreditch "there is a small mortuary in the
parish churchyard, consisting of two rooms — one of
which is used as a post-mortem room. Any enlarge-
ment is prevented by the fact of it being a disused
burial ground." It is proposed to improve it by
"lining the walls with glazed tiles, and providing
means for heating water." At Poplar the mortuary
is "inadequate and unsuitable." The mortuary in
Bromley Cemetery is "unsatisfactory"; and that in Bow
Churchyard " is merely an old crypt, quite unfit for
use as a mortuary, and has no post-mortem accom-
modation." We are officially informed that " in no
part of the new borough of Wandsworth is ...
the mortuary accommodation entirely satisfactory."
At St. George-the-Martyr the mortuary " has no
infectious chamber, and the post-mortem room is
incompletely separated from the mortuary"; whilst at
Christchurch and St. Saviour's there is "an inadequate
mortuary under a railway arch." At Horsleydown,
Southwark, " the inadequacy of the mortuary accom-
modation " has been repeatedly brought before the
notice of the authorities. The Holborn mortuary is
at the rear of the Town Hall ; " the approach is either
through the post-mortem room or infectious chamber"
— the latter " serves as a viewing room to the mor-
tuary"! The St. Giles mortuary and coroner's court
is " rather small, and in a confined position." At St.
352 WAITING MORTUARIES.
Paul's, Deptford, " there is a mortuary in the church-
yard, but it has only one room, which serves as a
mortuary and post-mortem room. This is contrary to
the Public Health Act." There is no mortuary at
Hatcham, nor at Charlton, nor Kidbrooke. Lee and
Eltham are, according to the last return, in the same
unsatisfactory condition.
At Greenwich "there is a mortuary, with post-mortem
room, in a disused churchyard, but the approach is
bad, there is no accommodation for infectious cases,
and the fittings are capable of improvement." The
mortuary at St. Nicholas, Deptford, is in the church-
yard, and " consists of one room, with slabs for
two coffins. It is also used as a post-mortem room
and a gardener's tool-house and store." Plumstead
provides " a small underground mortuary in St.
Nicholas Churchyard, unsuitable for the purpose." At
St. Martin's-in-the-Fields " there is a mortuary under
the churchyard of St. Martin's Church
but there is no infectious chamber, waiting room, or
viewing lobby."
Judging by the evidence which lies before us, the
state of the mortuaries in the London hospitals is very
much on a par with the state of similar places outside.
The Medical Times^ in an article, September 5, 1896,
in describing some of the mortuary eccentricities, cites
one hospital where the only place available was the
wash-house, and concludes : " It would appear that the
managers of metropolitan hospitals do not believe in
the reality of death -counterfeits, and therefore make
no arrangements for resuscitation." This condition of
things is not encouraging, and can scarcely be deemed
THE MORTUARIES OF LONDON. 353
worthy of the first city in the world. London mortu-
aries are found to be useful and convenient in relieving
hotels and private houses of the dead pending funerals,
and in cases of deaths from infectious diseases, as well
as from accidents and acts of violence which require
investigation. There is, therefore, a disposition to im-
prove matters, but even in the three boroughs — Chelsea,
Hampstead, and Stoke Newington — whose mortuaries
are singled out from all the rest for official praise,
much yet remains to be done ere • the conditions
can at all compare with buildings erected for a similar
purpose on the Continent.
At small outlay they could be made creditable and
useful establishments. First of all, they require the
means of resuscitation, such as are in use at the Royal
Humane Society's depots and at the German mortu-
aries ; also baths, couches, plants, flowers, and mural
ornaments, with a skilled nurse or caretaker, and a
medical practitioner either on the establishment or
within telephone call.
A fundamental regulation should be added to the
standing orders that, when there is no sign of decom-
position, bodies should be treated not as dead but as
sick needing attention, and to be kept under careful
observation. Such simple and inexpensive alterations,
gradually introduced by County, Parish, and District
Councils, would, in the course of time, bring about a
greater respect for the dead, with proper consideration
for the apparently dead, besides increasing the feeling
of the sanctity of human life. In the course of time
these improvements would educate the public, and lead
to the erection of new and handsome structures of
354 WAITING MORTUARIES.
beautiful design, with appropriate artistic decorations,
such as are to be found in Munich and other parts of
Germany.
The following pointed recommendation made by Sir
VV. J. Collins, M.D., M.S., B.Sc, D.P.H. (London), late
chairman of the L.C.C., in a paper read by him at the
Hygiene Congress at Buda Pesth, is worthy of urgent
notice: "I therefore hold that every inducement should
be held out to the poor by local authorities, by the
provision of decent, suitable, and attractive mortuaries,
to allow their dead to be removed from danger to the
living to a place where sentiment shall be respected
and sanitation satisfied."
MORTUARIES IN THE PROVINCES.
Judging by replies we have received from officials
in many of the larger towns in the United Kingdom,
the majority publish no reports of their mortuaries,
nor do they issue any definite regulations. Separate
records of the bodies laid in the mortuaries appear
to be very rarely kept. In none is there the least
assimilation to the ideas which permeate the official
and public mind in the Continental towns referred to.
They are simply depositories for the homeless and
neglected dead.
REPORTS FROM IRELAND.
The following extracts are from the report by Dr.
J. E. Kenny, M.P., Coroner for the City of Dublin :—
" There are no local laws in Dublin or in Ireland
CONDITIONS IN IRELAND. 355
relative to the mode of disposal of the dead, but the
Sanitary Acts, which refer to the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, can be availed of when
necessary to compel the burial of the dead within a
reasonable period, on the ground that an unburied
body is a nuisance dangerous to public health. There
is, however, no fixed period. Among Roman Catholics
it is customary to bury the dead on the third or
fourth day after death, but there is no hard-and-fast
rule The local burial authorities usually
require a medical certificate of death before opening
the grave, but there is no legal sanction for this, and
it is merely the custom. The coroner's order for
burial where an inquest is held does away with the
necessity of such certificates as those above referred
to, but post-mortem examinations in these cases are
the exception, not the rule. A good many, however,
are held on those who die in local hospitals, when
the consent of the relatives or friends can be obtained.
I have not heard of any case of cremation in Ireland,
and earth-burial is the universal practice. Occasionally,
when so ordered by the will of the deceased, a body
is removed to England for cremation. I am myself
rather in favour of cremation as a more scientific and
safer method of disposing of the dead.
" There are no chambers (mortuaries) of the kind
referred to in this question in Dublin, nor, so far as
I know, in Ireland. I know of no law as to the
signs of death which must be recognised to exist
before burial is permitted, nor is there any officer on
whom is thrown the duty of ascertaining or deciding
whether such exist or not."
350 WAITING MORTUARIES.
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.
During the discussion on premature burials in the
press, the erection of mortuaries (chambres mortuaires
d'attente) has been objected to (i) on the ground of
expense to the ratepayers ; (2) because the results by
way of resuscitation of those constructed in Germany
have not justified the cost of their erection and main-
tenance, and that if they had not already been in
existence they would not now, it is said, be established;
(3) because relations object to be separated from their
dead before burial.
As to expense, it is not unlikely that the unthinking
majority would prefer to accept what they may look
upon as an infinitesimal risk rather than incur the
neccessary outlay. When once, however, the public
is aroused to the fact that living burial is a serious
and real danger, the expense will no longer be taken
into consideration. Tastefully designed mortuaries in all
populous districts could be met by a rate of from one
farthing to a penny in the pound, and in the smaller
or thinly-populated districts groups of parishes could
unite in providing such useful institutions. * Public
bodies might appropriately take this matter up under
the powers granted to them by the Local Government
Act of 1894. At present, under existing customs,
probably ten times the amount required is annually
expended in funeral trappings, mourning habiliments,
costly wreaths, and ornamental monuments (mainly
for the purpose of ostentatious display) that would
provide temporary resting-places for the real and
apparently dead in every part of the United Kingdom.
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 357
The erection of such establishments, where the fact
of death in every case could be unequivocally de-
monstrated before burial or cremation, would remove
an ever present and consuming load of anxiety from
the hearts of thousands of sensitive souls.
The second objection — namely, that results in resus-
citation have not justified their erection, and that
such mortuaries are no longer built — is simply untrue.
Mortuaries, upon a scale hitherto unattempted, have but
recently been erected in Berlin and Munich, and similar
establishments are to be erected in Paris, whilst many
other towns and cities on the Continent, which have not
yet adopted the system, have the matter under grave
consideration. We have already quoted instances of
resuscitation in them as a proof of their utility, and
more cases will be given before concluding this chapter.
We have seen it stated and restated in public journals,
and by public men who ought to be more guarded in
their utterances, that "there has never been known a
single case of resuscitation in a German mortuary."
This is clearly denied in the report of the Municipal
Council of Paris for 1880, No. 174, p. 84, wherein is
published a letter from Herr Ehrhart, Mayor of Munich,.
May 2, 1880, who says: — "The lengthy period during
which these establishments have been utilised, the order
which has always prevailed, the manner in which the
remains are disposed and adorned, the resuscitation of
some who were believed to be dead, have all contributed
to remove any sentimental objections to these establish-
ments. The bodies are transported to the Leichenhaiiser
twelve hours after death, without the least opposition
upon the part of the relatives."
358 WAITING MORTUARIES.
But the very presence of a system of this descrip-
tion would, in the ordinary course of things, lessen
the number of premature interments ; for, where the
dead remain under public supervision until putrefaction
commences, the expert medical official, who is publicly
employed to verify the deaths, would be exceedingly
cautious ere he granted his certificate, and ordered
the body to be removed to the mortuary. There
could be no possibility under such conditions of
the existence of a scandal similar to that which
came to light at an inquest held at Wigan by Mr.
S. Brighouse, one of the County Coroners for Lan-
cashire, on December 21, 1902. The Coroner said
" the circumstances were, perhaps, the most remarkable
he had ever had to disclose to a jury." The child
had " died " four times, and the mother had obtained
three medical certificates of death on the strength of
her own diagnoses !
At the same time, it must be admitted, it is very
difficult for an enquirer on the Continent to obtain
reliable information with regard to what takes place
within the walls of mortuaries, because of the numerous
officials and others who are interested in covering up
any errors of previous death-certification that may
come to light in them. The system in Germany is
practically one of police regulation. But, difficult as
it may be to ascertain the complete number of cases
which, as the result of the excellent mortuary system,
have been saved from a horrible death, there have been
a sufficient number brought to light to warrant the
trite observation made by The Hospital on February
27, 1904 : — " Even if the risk is as slight as most
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 359
authorities contend, there is no reason why it should
not be completely removed."
In reply to the third objection, which is one of
sentiment, and which we would not wish to underrate,
we believe mourners would soon get accustomed to
the separation from their dead if the latter were
removed to mortuaries where the surroundings were
of a pleasing character, and where they could visit
the remains as often as they pleased. The possibility
that by such means a terrible mistake may be rectified
would appeal to the most sensitive; and the poor, who
can ill spare the room required for the deposit of a
coffin, would, upon the grounds of health and conveni-
ence, soon come to value such a system. The writer,
in the course of his practice, has on several occasions
found, among the very poor, families having meals in
tiny rooms in a city slum side by side with a shell
containing the corpse of a departed relative.
THE UTILITY OF MORTUARIES.
Out of the quantity of material which lies before us
it is somewhat difficult to select illustrative cases suited
to the limited space at command. The following are
such as are vouched for by competent authorities: —
BERLIN.
" A Berlin apothecary wrote to me lately," says Dr.
Lenormand, " in this town to the effect that during an
interval of two years and a half ten people stated to
be dead had been recalled to life. I shall quote only
the following: —
360 WAITING MORTUARIES.
" ' SOLDIER OF THE GUARD.
'"In the middle of the night the bell of the vestibule rang
violently. The caretaker, who had only entered on duties within
a few days, much startled, ran towards the mortuary. As soon
as he opened the door he found himself confronted with one of
"the corpses" enveloped in his shroud, who had quitted his bier
and was making his way out. He was a soldier of the guard
believed to be dead, and he was able to join his regiment five
days later.' "
FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAINE.
Dr. Josat said that, during his sojourn in Germany,
Herr Schmill, director of the mortuary at Frankfort,
related to him a case of apparent death which occurred
under his own eyes.
" In the year 1840, a girl of nineteen years died of acute
pleuro-pneumonia. Her body, during very hot weather, was ex-
posed in the mortuary for a period of eight days in a state of
perfect preservation. Her face retained its colour, the limbs
were supple, and the substance of the cornea transparent, whereas
in ordinary cases decomposition shows itself on the third day.
The parents could not reconcile themselves to have their daughter
buried, and found themselves much troubled. Finally, on the
ninth day, the supposed dead suddenly awoke, without any pre-
monitory indications of life."
BELGIUM.
M. Gaubert, a very painstaking authority, in " Les
Chambres Mortuaires d'Attente," says:—
" There was a case at Brussels in January, 1867, of a
person who returned to life just as the bearers arrived
at the mortuary.
" 'A workman of the suburbs, employed by a firm of carriers^
fell ill, and in a few days died. This suddenness of the death
caused doubts as to its reality, and after the usual delay he was
THE UTILITY OF MORTUARIES. 361
taken to the mortuary connected with the cemetery. The body
was left for a few days' observation. As soon as they arrived
a noise escaped from the coffin, and arrested the attention of
the people present. At once they hastened towards the coffin,
and tried to restore him, and in a short time he came to life.
The same evening he was able to return to his home. On the
following day he went himself to the authorities to annul the
record of his supposed death.'" (P. 182.)
M. Gaubert continues : — " We have collected in
Germany fourteen cases of apparent death followed by
return to life in mortuaries, in spite of all that has
been done for the prevention of such occurrences.'*
(P. 182.)
CASSEL.
Dr. E. Bouchut, in " Signes de la Mort," third
edition, p. 50, writes :—
"An apothecary's assistant had an attack of syncope, which
continued for eight days, when he was apparently dead, and was
removed to the mortuary of the Military Hospital, Cassel, where he
was covered with a coarse wrapper and left amongst the dead.
The following night he awoke from his lethargy, and, on recog-
nising the horrible place where he was, dragged himself to the
door and kicked against it. The noise was heard by the sentinel,
aid arrived, and the patient was put in a warm bed, where he
recovered."
Dr. Bouchut says that if he had been swathed in
tight bandages his efforts at release would have been
futile, and he would have been buried alive.
INDIA.
Dr. Roger S. Chew, of Calcutta, has forwarded the
following cases to the author as the results of his own
personal experience : —
24
362 WAITING MORTUARIES.
"A sowar — i.e., native trooper — of the 7th regiment of cavalry,
in 1878, carrying despatches at Nowshera, was thrown from his
horse, and, falling with his head against a sharp stone in the road,
rolled on his back, in which position he was found some six or
seven hours after, and conveyed to the mortuary of the European
Depot Hospital pending removal to the 'lines' of his own corps.
There was very little haemorrhage, and the stone was still wedged
in between the temporo-parietal suture. Cardiac sounds and
respiratory murmurs could not be detected. The limbs were
perfectly rigid, and there was a good deal of cadaveric ecchymosis
to be distinctly seen. Nothing would have convinced anyone that
the sowar was still alive, and Surgeons-Major Hunter, Gibson, and
Briggs, Apothecary S. Pollock, Assistant-Surgeon J. Lewis, and"
myself, verily believed he was stone-dead. As 'cause of death' is
what the army is exceedingly particular about, Surgeon- Major
Hunter removed the impacted stone and lifted out portions of the
fractured bone (prior to holding a proper post-mortem\ when to the
surprise of all of us 'the corpse' deliberately closed its eyes (which
were staring open when the body was first brought in), and there
was a slight serous haemorrhage. On noticing this, the sowar's
head was trephined — no chloroform or other anaesthetic being
used — some more fragments of bone and a large blood-clot that
pressed on the brain were removed, and, as the sowar repeatedly
flinched under this operation, a. stimulant was poured down his
throat, and he was removed to his regimental hospital, from which
he was discharged 'well' some six months and a half later. After
this he did good service in the Afghan and Egyptian campaigns."
"Sergeant J. Clements Twining, of H.M.'s logth regiment of
British infantry, located at Dinapoor in 1876, was brought in an
unconscious state to the hospital, supposed to be suffering from
coup de soleil. Everything that could be done was ineffectually
tried to rouse him from coma, and he was removed to the dead-
house to wait post-mortem next morning. At two a.m. the sentry
on the dead-house came rushing down to the dispensary (about
four hundred and fifty yards off) declaring that he had seen and
heard a ghost in the dead-house, to which myself and the com-
pounder and dresser on duty at once proceeded, to find that
Clements Twining, who was now partially conscious, was lying on
THE UTILITY OF MORTUARIES. 363
the dead-house flags groaning most piteously — he had rolled off
the table on to the floor. He returned to health, and in 1877
accompanied his regiment to England, where I met him at
Woolwich in 1883, and he asked me to corroborate his story of
'returning to life' to certain of his acquaintances who had refused
to believe him."
HAMBURG.
A correspondent signing himself " T. E. N.," in
To-Day, October 12, 1895, says :—
" When acting as special correspondent to the Evening
Herald in Hamburg during the cholera plague, I met a gentle-
man v/ho had been passed for dead and placed in the mortuary
to await burial. When the porters entered some hours later to
remove the hundred or so bodies, they found this gentleman
sitting up in great pain, and very much frightened. He was
placed in a ward, and recovered.
"About the same time a little girl came to life actually at
the graveside. She had been brought in one of several four-
horse vans that conveyed bodies for interment in the Ohlsdorff
graveyard. Fortunately for her, she had not been placed in a
coffin, the exigencies of the time rendering it impossible to
provide caskets for the dead. When the disease began to die
out, the people found time to ask — ' Can it be possible that life
remains in any of the bodies buried?' That the doctors in the
latter days cut the ulnar arteries of all subjects before passing
them for dead is full of significance."
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
The Undertakers' Review, January 22, 1894, reports
that :—
" Lena Fellows, aged twenty-two years, a servant in the employ
of A. R. Knox, of Buffalo, fell dead, as was thought, while at
work on December 8. The remains were taken to the morgue
in a coffin, but next morning when Morgue-Keeper M'Shane
began to lift the supposed corpse into the refrigerator he found
that the woman was alive. It was a case of catalepsy."
364 WAITING MORTUARIES.
Dr. J. M. Duncan, of Kansas City, U.S.A., in an
instructive article in the Medical Brief, August, 1897,
relates the following remarkable experiences : —
"In 1865 I was on duty in a United States field hospital. On
May 15 a soldier in one of the hospitals died. His body was
bathed, prepared, and carried to the mortuary. At daybreak
next morning he was found sitting upright, was taken back to
the ward, and made a good recovery. This soldier said that
while the nurses were dressing him he tried to kick them, and
in every way tried to make them know he was not dead ; but
could not move. All night, as he lay in the dead-house, he
kept trying to break the spell, realising fully that he must get
a move on him or be buried alive next day. He distinctly
heard everything as usual, could see things before him, and his
sense of feeling was perfectly normal. As twilight began to
appear in the east, he was feeling chilly and felt like sneezing, in
the effort of which he caught his breath, and raised himself up."
LONDON.
The following incident caused a great deal of
comment at the time, and suggested to many that
other cases of suspended animation might have a
less fortunate issue : —
" Ernest Wicks, a boy two years old, was found lying on the
grass in Regent's Park apparently dead, and resuscitated in St.
Marylebone Mortuary (after being laid out on a slab as dead) in
September, 1895, by the keeper, Mr. Ellis, assisted by Mrs.
Ellis. When the doctor arrived, the child was breathing freely,
though still insensible. The child was taken to the Middlesex
Hospital, and was reported by the surgeon to be recovering
from a fit."
A correspondent writes us as follows, on February
27, 1903 :—
" The husband of an old servant of ours underwent an opera-
tion in the Brompton Hospital. He was supposed to have died,
THE UTILITY OF MORTUARIES. 365
and was therefore taken to the mortuary. Fortunately for him,
he gave signs of life before being buried, and is, I believe, alive
now."
LILLE.
The Progres du Nord, April 2, 1 894, reports : —
" M. Vangiesen, aged eighty-one years, awakened from
supposed death on the flagstones of the mortuary at the Charite
Hospital at Lille."
H. L. Kerthomas, in " Dernieres Considerations sur
les Inhumations Precipitees," Lille, 1852, p. 17, relates
'that :—
"At a hospital in Liege two house-surgeons were at the
* Salles des decades' in pursuance of their anatomical studies
when, hearing at one side of them a noise like stifled breathing,
great was their fear ! Still, they coolly finished their examination,
and then discovered the supposed corpse moving convulsively
amongst his dead companions ; but, thanks to efficient help, he
was completely restored to health.''' (The above occurred in
1847.)
Enough evidence has been given to justify our
contention that upon every ground — moral, social,
sanitarian, humane, and economical — the British nation
should seriously take this matter up, and see to it that
Parliament be urged to pass, without further delay, a
measure which shall ordain that waiting mortuaries of
the character we have described be erected in every
sanitary district throughout the kingdom.
CHAPTER XX III.
CONCLUSION.
IT has been our endeavour to present in a concise
form the salient facts connected with the important
subject which forms the title of this work. It would
have been easy to fill a much larger volume than this
with reports of authentic cases of premature burial
and narrow escapes from such terrible mischances, and
with more detailed results of the authors' researches on
the subject in various parts of Europe and America, as
well as in the East. The cases adduced to illustrate
the text are, however, presented as types of hundreds
of others obtainable from equally reputable sources,
and to be found in the works of various trustworthy
authorities, the titles of which can be seen in the
Bibliography at the end of this volume.
We herewith append a summary of the chief points
we have presented, and which we have sought to sub-
stantiate as far as the limited space will allow: —
1 i ) Death - Counterfeits. — That trance, catalepsy,
and other forms of death-counterfeit, arising from
exhausting illnesses and diseases, from loss of blood
and various nervous derangements, from extreme con-
ditions of temperature, drugs, drowning, still-birth, etc.,
are of such mysterious and deceptive character that
we are led to the conclusion that they may easily be
mistaken for real death.
(2) Tragic Results. — That mistakes of this nature
have occurred in numerous instances. That not only
SUMMARY OF FACTS. 367
have persons been buried alive, as proved by subsequent
exhumations, but that in many instances, in this and
other countries, many have revived after having been
supposed to be dead by their relatives and attendant
physicians.
(3) Justifiable Fear, — That a natural dread exists
in the minds of many persons lest they should fall
victims to such a terrible mistake. That this has
been evidenced by the numerous directions laid down
in the wills of perfectly sane and even of notable
persons, which provide against any possible resuscita-
tion in the hopeless tomb. That this fear has been
likewise manifested by the offer of substantial prizes
by scientists and by learned societies for the most
approved method of diagnosing between latent life
and actual death. That the dread has been further
shown by the several inventions, such as safety coffins
and safety graves, which have been seized upon by
the public in the hope of protecting them from the
most awful of all deaths.
(4) Legal Hindrances. — That the formalities associ-
ated with the disinterment of a body, or even the
opening of a coffin, whether in England or abroad,
and the slavish acceptance of and obedience to
medical certification given under exceedingly lax
conditions, are fraught with dangerous possibilities to
the living and to the apparently dead.
(5) Special Risks. — That the risk of premature
burial is especially serious in France, in Spain and
Portugal, in the west of Ireland, in both European
368 CONCLUSION.
and Asiatic Turkey, and in India ; also among the
Jews, where both the Jewish law and ancient custom
enjoin burial within a few hours of death, and for
similar reasons in all oriental countries, and in the
Southern States of North America.
(6) Illusory Nature of Death Signs. — That the
various signs which are supposed to indicate death,
such as the cessation of respiration and of cardiac
action, a pale, waxy, and death-like appearance, a
stiffening of the limbs, or rigor mortis, insensibility
to cutaneous excitation, the departure of heat from
the body, are singly and collectively illusory ; the
only safe and infallible test of dissolution being the
manifestation of putrefaction in the abdomen.
(7) Death-Certificates. — That the present method of
granting a death-certificate in this country is most
unsatisfactory, seeing that the medical attendant is
relieved from the necessity of viewing the supposed
dead before giving it, and that every year some
ten thousand death-certificates are accepted by the
Registrar- General in which the cause of death is not
even stated. If the legislature enacted that the
certifying medical man shall in every instance examine
the body of the alleged dead person, and shall state
upon his certificate the grounds upon which he bases
his judgment, as the result of such personal examina-
tion (for which a small fee, as in the case of
notification, might be paid by the local authority), a
greater safeguard of life would be ensured than is
possible under the lax system which at the present
time is allowed by law.
SUMMARY OF FACTS. 369
(8) Definite Medical Training. — That there should
be systematic medical instruction (which does not
exist at the present time) during the course of train-
ing at our medical schools and colleges upon the
phenomena of trance, catalepsy, syncope, and other
forms of suspended animation ; and that knowledge
of definite tests necessary to the prevention of pre-
mature burial be demanded in all examinations for
medical diplomas and degrees.
(9) A Real Danger. — That, in view of the numerous
authentic instances of premature coffinment, premature
burial, and narrow escapes, which have been collected
together, we are forced to the conclusion that these
instances can but represent large numbers of other
cases which have never been, and, by the very nature
of the circumstances, could never be, brought to light.
(10) Other Risks. — That even embalming, dissecting,
and cremation are each and all accompanied by risks
to life unless the precaution is first taken of ascertain-
ing that life has really ceased to exist.
(11) The Only Real Safeguard. — That no evidence
of death is really satisfactory except that which is
supplied by putrefaction, usually evidenced by the
change of colour in the abdomen. That to ensure
this safeguard waiting mortuaries should be erected
by every sanitary authority in the kingdom at public
expense, such as are provided at Munich, Weimar,
Stuttgart, and other German cities, furnished with
every appliance for resuscitation, watched by qualified
attendants, and in telephonic communication with a
370 CONCLUSION.
medical superintendent, who shall be authorised to
grant the removal of the body to the cemetery only
when the fact of death has been unequivocally estab-
lished by the sign of decomposition.
(12) An Appeal. — If the foregoing conclusions are
established, and we believe such to be the case, the
need for immediate action is urgent and imperative,
and the prompt intervention of Parliament should be
at once invoked. May we hope for the cordial co-
operation of all classes and all sections on a question
on which the whole community have a deep and vital
interest, and on which procrastination will certainly be
fatal to some of its members? It is not an academic
question, but one of the gravest practical character,
the earnest consideration and treatment of which
cannot be neglected with impunity.
APPENDICES.
APPENDIX A.
HISTORICAL CASES OF RESTORATION FROM APPARENT
DEATH.
FROM the time of Kornmann, Terilli, and Zacchia (see Bibliography,
seventeenth century), certain notable instances have been cited from
old authors of restoration from apparent death with a good deal of
uniformity in essays or theses on this subject. One of the most con-
venient (to English readers) of these compilations is to be found in an
anonymous essay, "The Uncertainty of the Signs of Death," Dublin,
1748 (printed by George Faulkner), from which the following extracts
are taken verbatim : —
Plutarch informs us that a certain person fell irom an eminence but
did not show the least appearance of any wound ; for, three days after,
he suddenly resumed his strength, and returned to life as his friends
were conveying him to the grave.
Asclepiades, a celebrated physician, on his return from his country
seat met a large company conveying a corpse to the grave. A principle
of curiosity induced him to ask the name of the deceased person ; but
grief and sorrow reigned so universally that no one returned him answer ;
upon which, approaching the corpse, he found the whole of it rubbed
over Vfith perfumes, and the mouth moistened with precious balm,
according to the custom of the Greeks ; then carefully feeling every part,
and discovering latent signs of life, he forthwith affirmed that the
person was not dead, and the person was saved. — Celsus ii., 6, " De
re Medica."
In the tenth book of Plato's "Republic" is related the story of one
Er, an Armenian, who was slain in battle. Ten days after, when the
surviving soldiers came, with a view to inter the dead, they found all
the bodies corrupted except his ; for which reason they conveyed him
to his own house in order to inter him in the usual manner. But two
372 HISTORICAL CASES OF RESTORATION
' days after, to the great surprise of all present, he returned to life when
laid on the funeral pile. Ouenstedt remarks upon this case, which he
took from Kornmann's treatise " De Miraculis Mortuorum," "that the
soul sometimes remains in the body when the senses are so fettered,
and, as it were, locked up, that it is hard to determine whether a
person is dead or alive." Pliny in his "Natural History," book vii.,
chap. 52, which treats of those who have returned to life when they
were about to be laid in the grave, tells us that Acilius Aviola, a man
of so considerable distinction that he had formerly been honoured with
the consulship, returned to life when he was upon the funeral pile ; but
as he could not be rescued from the violence of the flames he was
burnt alive. The like misfortune also happened to Lucius Lamia, who
had been praetor. These two shocking accidents are also related by
Valerius Maximus. Celius Tubero had a happier fate than his two
fellow-citizens, since, according to Pliny, he discovered the signs of life
before it was too late. liis state, however, was far from eligible, since,
being laid on the funeral pile, he stood a fair chance of being exposed
to the like misfortune. Pliny, from the testimony of Varro, adds that
when a distribution of land was making at Capua, a certain man, when
carried a considerable way from his own house in order to be interred,
returned home on foot. The like surprising accident also happened at
Aquinum. The last instance of this nature related by the author
occurred at Rome, and Pliny must, no doubt, have been intimately
acquainted with all its most minute circumstances, since the person
was one Cerfidius, the husband of his mother's sister, who returned to
life after an agreement had been made for his funeral with the under-
taker, who was probably much disappointed when he found him alive
and in good health.
These examples drawn from Roman history greatly contribute to
establish the uncertainty of the signs of death, and ought to render us
very cautious with respect to interments.
Greece and Italy are not the only theatres in which such tragical
events have been acted, since other countries of Europe also furnish us
with instances of a like nature. Thus, Maximilian Misson, in his
"Voyage Through Italy," tome i., letter 5, tells us —
" That the number of persons who have been interred as dead, when
they were really alive, is very great in comparison with those who have
been happily rescued from their graves ; for, in the town of Cologne,
Archbishop Geron — according to Albertus Krantzius — was interred alive,
and died for want of seasonable releasement."
FROM APPARENT DEATH. 373
It is also certain that in the same town the like misfortune happened
to Johannes Duns Scotus, who in his grave tore his hands and wounded
his head. Misson also relates the following : —
" Some years ago the wife of one Mr. Mervache, a goldsmith of Poictiersr
being buried with some rings on her fingers, as she had desired when dying, a
poor man of the neighbourhood, being apprised of that circumstance, next
night opened the grave in order to make himself master of the rings, but as
he could not pull them off without some violence, he in the attempt waked
the woman, who spoke distinctly, and complained of the injury done her.
Upon this, the robber made his escape. The woman, now roused from
an apoplectic fit, rose from her coffin, returned to her own house, and
in a few days recovered a perfect state of health."
What induced Misson to relate these histories was a certain piece. of
painting preserved in the church of the Holy Apostles at Cologne, in order
to keep up the memory of a certain accident, which that traveller relates
in the following manner : —
"In the year 1571, the wife of one of the magistrates of Cologne
being interred with a valuable ring on one of her fingers, the grave-
digger next night opened the grave in order to take it off, but we may
readily suppose that he was in no small consternation when the sup-
posed dead body squeezed his hand, and laid fast hold of him, in order
to get out of her coffin. The thief, however, disengaging himself,
made his escape with all expedition ; and the lady, disentangling herself
in the best manner she could, went home and knocked at her own door,
where, after shivering in her shroud, after some delay she was admitted by
the terror-stricken servants ; and, being warmed and treated in a proper
manner, completely recovered."
Simon Goubart, in his admirable and memorable histories, printed at
Geneva in 1628, relates the following accident: — "A lady, whose name
was Reichmuth Adoloh, was supposed to fall a victim to a pestilence, which
raged with such impetuous fury as to cut off most of the inhabitants of
Cologne. Soon after, however, she not only recovered her health, but
also brought into the world three sons, who, in process of time, were
advanced to livings in the Church."
" The town of Dijon, in Burgundy, was, in the year 1558, afflicted with
a violent plague, which cut off the inhabitants so fast that there was not
time for each dead person to have a separate grave ; for which reason
large pits were made and filled with as many bodies as they could contain.
In this deplorable conjuncture, Mrs. Nicole Tentillet shared the
common fate, and after labouring under the disorder for some days, fell
3/4 HISTORICAL CASES OF RESTORATION
into a syncope so profound that she was taken for dead, and accord-
ingly buried in a pit with the other dead bodies. The next morning
after her interment she returned to life, and made the strongest effiorts
to get out, but was held down by the weight of the bodies with which
she was covered. She remained in this wretched condition for four
days, when the grave-diggers took her out and carried her to her own
house, where she recovered perfectly." Following this case, that of a
labouring man of Courcelles, near Neuchfitel, is narrated. He fell into
so profound syncope that he was taken for dead ; but the persons who
were putting him into his grave, without a coffin, perceived some motion
in his shoulders, for which reason they carried him to his own home,
where he perfectly recovered. This accident laid the foundation for his
being called the ghost of Courcelles.
"A lawyer of Vesoul, a town of Franche-Comte, near Besan9on, so
carefully concealed a lethargy, to which he was subject, that nobody
knew anything of his disorder, though the paroxysms returned very fre-
quently. The motive which principally induced him to this secrecy was
the dread of losing a lady to whom he was just about to be married.
Being afraid, however, lest some paroxysm should prove fatal to him,
he communicated his case to the sheriff of the town, who, by virtue of
his office, was obliged to take care of him if such a misfortune should
happen. The marriage was concluded, and the lawyer for a consider-
able time enjoyed a perfect state of health, but at last was seized with
so violent a paroxysm of the disease that his lady, to whom he had
not revealed the secret, not doubting his death, ordered him to be put
in his coffin. The sheriff, though absent when the paroxysm seized
him, luckily returned in time to preserve him ; for he ordered the inter-
ment to be delayed, and the lawyer, returning to life, survived the
accident sixteen years."
Another case is that of a certain person who was conveyed to the
church in order to be interred, but one of his friends sprinkling a large
quantity of holy water on his face, which was covered, he not only
returned to life, but also resumed a perfect state of health.
This writer subjoins other histories of persons who, being interred
alive, have expired in their graves and tombs, as has afterwards been
discovered by various marks made, not only in their sepulchres, but
also in their own bodies. He in a particular manner mentions a young
lady of Auxbourg, who, falling into a syncope, in consequence of a
suffocation of the matrix, was buried in a deep vault, without being
covered with earth, because her friends thought it sufficient to have the
FROM APPARENT DEATH. 375
vault carefully shut up. Some years after, however, one of the family
happened to die ; the vault was opened, and the body of the young lady
found on the stairs at its entry, without any fingers on the right hand.
It is recorded in "Tr. de Acre et Alim. defect.," cap. vii., that a
certain woman was hanged, and in all appearances was dead, who was
nevertheless restored to life by a physician accidentally coming in and
ordering a plentiful administration of sal ammoniac.
Another case of hanging is the story of Anne Green, executed at
Oxford, December 14, 1650. She was hanged by the neck for half an hour,
some of her friends thumping her on the breast, others hanging with all
their weight upon her legs, and then pulling her down again with a
sudden jerk, thereby the sooner to despatch her out of her pain. After
she was in her coffin, being observed to breathe, a lusty fellow stamped
w'ith all his force on her breast and stomach to put her out of pain. But
by the assistance of Dr. Petty, Dr. Willis, Dr. Bathurst, and Dr. Clark,
she was again brought to life.
Kornmann, in his treatise " De Miraculis Mortuorum," relates the
following history: — "Saint Augustine, from Saint Grille, informs us that
a cardinal of the name of Andrew, having died in Rome in the presence
of several bystanders, was next day conveyed to the church, where the
Pope and a body of the clergy attended service in order to do honour to
his memory. But to their great surprise, after some groans, he recovered
his life and senses. This event was at the time looked upon as a miracle,
and ascribed to Saint Jerome, to whom the cardinal was greatly
attached."
The following account seems more to resemble a miracle, though we do
not find that it was looked upon as such: — " Gocellinus, a young man,
and nephew to one of the Archbishops of Cologne, falling into the
Rhine, was not found for fifteen days after, but was discovered to be
alive as he lay before the shrine of Saint Guibert."
Persons curious or incredulous upon the dangers of precipitate burials
may, for their satisfaction, have recourse to the medical observations of
Forestus ; those of Amatus Lusitanus; the chirurgical observations of
William Fabri ; the treatise of Levinus Lemnius on the secret miracles
of Nature ; the observations of Schenkins ; the medico-legal questions of
Paul Zacchias ; Albertinus Bottonus's treatise of the Disorders of Women ;
Terilli's treatise on the Causes of Sudden Death ; Lancisi's^reatise Con-
cerning Deaths, and Kornmann's treatise on the Miracles of the Dead.
These authors furnish us with a great variety of the most palpable and
flagrant instances of the uncertainty of the signs of death.
3/6 HISTORICAL CASES OF RESTORATION
Physicians of the earlier ages knew that there were disorders which so
locked up or destroyed the external senses that the patients labouring
under them appeared to be dead. According to Mr. Le Clerc, in his
" History of Medicine," Diogenes Laertius informs us "that Empedocles
was particularly admired for curing a woman supposed to be dead, though
that philosopher frankly acknowledged that her disorder was only a
suffocation of the matrix, and affirmed that the patient might live in that
state (the absence of respiration) for thirty days."
Mr. Le Clerc, in the work already quoted, tells us that " Heraclides
of Pontus wrote a book concerning the causes of diseases, in which he
affirmed that in certain disorders a patient is without respiration for
thirty days, and that they appeared dead in every respect, except cor-
ruption of the body."
To these authorities we may add that of Pliny, who, after mentioning
the lamentable fate of Aviola and Lamia, affirms — " That such is the
condition of humanity, and so uncertain the judgment men are capable
of forming of things, that even death itself is not to be trusted to."
Colerus, in " Oeconom," part vi. , lib. xviii,, cap. 113, observes —
" That a person as yet not really dead may, for a long time, remain
apparently in that state without discovering the least signs of life; and
this has happened in the times of the plague, when a great many persons
interred have returned to life in their graves." Authors also inform us
that the like accident frequently befalls women seized with a suffocation
of the matrix (hysteria).
Forestus, in " Obs. Med.," 1. xvii., obs. 9, informs us — "That drowned
persons have returned to life after remaining forty-eight hours in the
water ; and sometimes women, buried during a paroxysm of the hysteric
passion, have returned to life in their graves ; for which reason- it is
forbidden in some countries to bury the dead sooner than seventy- two
hours after death." This precaution of delaying the interment of persons
thought to be dead is of a very ancient date, since Plato ordered the
bodies of the dead to be kept till the third day, in order to be satisfied
of the reality of death.
The burial customs of the ancients often included steps that were
taken as a precaution against mistaking the living for the dead. Indeed
the fear of such an accident seems to have always been entertained as
a thing liable to occur in every case of seeming death. The embalming
process employed by the Egyptians was a surgical test of the kind.
The abdomen was first opened in order to remove the intestines, and
some startling experiences must have been had in consequence of the
FROM APPARENT DEATH. 377
incisions required for this operation, because it was customary for the
friends and relatives of the deceased to throw stones at the persons-
employed in embalming as soon as the work was over, owing to the
horror with which they were struck upon witnessing what must have
been at times a cruel proceeding.
The funeral ceremonies used in the Caribbee Islands are, in a great
measure, conformable to reason. They wash the body, wrap it up in a
cloth, and then begin a series of lamentations and discourses calculated
to recall the deceased to life, by naming all the pleasures and privileges
he has enjoyed in the world, saying over and over again, "How comes
it, then, that you have died?" When the lamentations are over, they
place the body on a small seat, in a grave about four or five feet deep,
and for ten days present aliments to it, entreating it to eat. Then,
convinced that it would neither eat nor return to life, they, for its
obstinacy, throw the victuals on its head, and cover up the grave. It
is evident from the practices of this people that they wait so long before
they cover the body with earth because they have had instances of
persons recalled to life by these measures.
Lamentations of a similar kind were employed by the Jews and
Romans, as well as by the ancient Prussians and the inhabitants of
Servia, founded doubtless upon similar experiences.
The Thracians, according to Herodotus, kept their dead for only three
days, at the end of which time they offered up sacrifices of all kinds,
and, after bidding their last adieu to the deceased, either burned or
interred their bodies.
According to Quenstedt, the ancient Russians laid the body of the
dead person naked on a table, and washed it for an hour with warm
water. Then they put it into a bier, which was set in the most public
room in the house. On the third day they conveyed it to the place of
interment, where, the bier being opened, the women embraced the body
with great lamentations. Then the singers spent an hour in shouting
and making a noise in order to recall it to life ; after which it was let
down into the grave and covered with earth. So that this people used
the test of warm water, that of cries, and a reasonable delay, before
they proceeded to the interment.
In the laws and history of the' Jews there is but one regulation with
respect to interment (in the twenty-first chapter of Deuteronomy), where
the Jewish legislator orders persons hanged to be buried the same day.
From this one is led to infer that the funeral ceremonies, as handed
down from Adam, were otherwise perfect and unexceptionable. The
25 -
378 HISTORICAL CASES OF RESTORATION
bier used by the Jews, on which the body was laid, was not shut at the
top, as our coffins are, as is obvious from the resurrection of the widow's
son of Nain, recorded in the seventh chapter of Luke, where these
words occur: — "And he came and touched the bier, and they that bare
him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise ; and
he that was dead sat up and began to speak."
Gierus and Calmet inform us that the body, before its interment, lay
for some days in the porch or dining-room of the house. According
to Maretus, it was probably during this time that great lamentations
were made, in which the name of the deceased was intermixed with
mournful cries and groans.
Mr. Boyer, member of the Faculty at Paris, observes that such
lamentations are still used by the Eastern Jews, and even by the Greeks
who embrace the articles of the Greek Church. These people hire
women to weep and dance by turns round the body of the dead person,
whom they interrogate with respect to the reasons they had for dying.
Lanzoni, a physician of Ferrara, informs us that " when any person
among the Romans died, his nearest relatives closed his mouth and
eyes, and when they saw him ready to expire they caught his last words
and sighs. Then calling him aloud three times by his name, they bade
him an eternal adieu." This ceremony of calling the name of the dying
person was called Conclamation, a custom that dates prior to the
foundation of Rome, and was only abolished with paganism.
Propertius acquaints us with the effect they expected from the first
Conclamation — since there were several of them. He introduces Cynthia
as saying, "Nobody called me by my name at the time my eyes were
closing, and I should have enjoyed an additional day if you had
recalled me to life."
Conclamations were made also by trumpets and horns, blown upon
the head, into the ears, and upon the neck and chest, so as to penetrate
all the cavities of the body, into which, as the ancients imagined, the
soul might possibly make her retreat.
Quenstedt and Casper Barthius, in "Advers.," lib. xxxvii., ch. 17,
tells us that it was customary among the ancients to wash the bodies
of their dead in warm water before they burned them, "that the heat
of the water might rouse the languid principle of life which might
possibly be left in the body."
By warm water we are to understand boiling water, as is obvious
from the copious steam arising from the vessel represented in pieces
of statuary in such instances : as also from the Sixth Book of Virgil's
FROM APPARENT DEATH. 379
"/Eneid" — "Some of the companions of ^Eneas, with boiling water
taken from brazen vessels, wash the dead body, and then anoint it."
" A correspondent of the late Dr. Hawes assures us that there was
then living in Hertfordshire a lady of an ancient and honourable family
whose mother was brought to life after interment by the attempt of a
thief to steal a valuable ring from her finger. (See Reports of the
Royal Humane Society for 1787-88-89, p. 77.) Whether it was the
same or not I cannot say, but Lady Dryden, who resided in the
southern part of Northamptonshire, in consequence of some such event
having occurred in her family, expressly directed in her will that her
body should have the throat cut across previous to interment ; and to
secure this bequeathed fifty pounds to an eminent physician, who
actually performed it."— Dr. Curry's "Observations on Apparent Death,"
p. 1 06.
Dr. Elliotson refers to a case of a female who was pronounced to be
dead. Her pulse could not be felt, and she was put into a coffin ; and
as the coffin lid was being closed they observed a sweat break out, and
thus saw that she was alive. She recovered completely, and then stated
that she had been unable to give any signs of life whatever ; that she
was conscious of all that was going on around her ; that she
heard everything ; and that, when she found the coffin lid about to be
put on, the agony was dreadful beyond all description, so that it
produced the sweat seen by the attendants.
DEATH-TRANCE.
In two cases related by the late Mr. Braid, of Manchester, "the
patients remained in the horrible condition of hearing various remarks
about their death and interment. All this they heard distinctly without
having the power of giving any indication that they were alive, until
some accidental abrupt impression aroused them from their lethargy, and
rescued them from their perilous situation. On one of these occasions,
what most intensely affected the feelings of the entranced subject, as
she afterwards communicated to my informant, was hearing a little
sister, who came into the room where she was laid out for dead, exulting
in the prospect, in consequence of her death, of getting possession of a
necklace of the deceased." In another instance, the patient remained in
a cataleptic condition for fourteen days. During this period the visible
signs of vitality were a slight degree of animal heat and appearance of
moisture when a mirror was held close to her face. But although she
380 HISTORICAL CASES OF RESTORATION
had no voluntary power to give indication by word or gesture, never-
theless she heard and understood all that was said and proposed to be
done, and suffered the most exquisite torture from various tests applied
to her. . . . There is hardly a more interesting chapter in the
records of medical literature than the history of well-authenticated cases
of profound lethargy or death-trance. Most of the reported cases in
which persons in a state of trance are stated to have been consigned to-
the horrors of a living burial may possibly be apocryphal. Still, on
the other hand, there are unquestionably too many well-substantiated
instances of the actual occurrence of this calamity, the horrors of which
no effort of the imagination can exaggerate, and for the prevention of
which no pains can be excessive and no precaution superfluous.
The following is taken from "Memorials of the Family of Scott, ot
Scott's Hall, in the County of Kent, with an Appendix of Illustrative
Documents," by James Renat Scott, F. S. A., London, 1876, page
225 :—
" Robert Scott, Esq., tenth (but sixth surviving) son of Sir Thomas
Scott, of Scott's Hall, Knight, married Priscilla, one of the daughters
of Sir Thomas Honywood, of Elmsmere, Knight, by whom he had nine
children. Remarkable accidents happened to the said Robert Scott
and Priscilla, his wife, before their marriage, at their marriage, and
after their marriage, before they had children. At their marriage,
which was in or about the year 1610, the said Robert Scott having
forgot his wedding ring when they were to be married, the said Priscilla
was married with a ring with death's head upon it.
"Within a short time after they were married the said Robert Scott,
and Priscilla, his wife, sojourning with Sir Edward at Austenhanger,
the said Robert Scott, about Bartholomewtide, fell sick of a desperate
malignant fever, and was given over for dead by all, insomuch as that
he was laid forth, the pillows pulled from under him, the curtains
drawn, and the chamber windows set open, and ministers spoke to to
preach the funeral service, and a book called for his funeral that was
to have been kept at Scott's Hall, where Sir John Scott, the eldest
brother, then lived. At night he was watched with by his own servant,
named Robins, and another servant in the house, and about midnight
they sitting together by the fire in the chamber, the said Robins said
to the other, ' Methinks my master should not be dead, I will go and
try,' and presently starting up went to the bedside where his master
laid, and hallooed in his ear, and laid a feather to his nostrils, and
perceived that he breathed, upon which he called them up in the house,
FROM APPARENT DEATH. 381
and they warmed clothes and rubbed him, and brought him to lile
again. He lived afterwards to be upwards of seventy-two years of age,
and to have nine children.
' ' Another remarkable passage was that his wife, Priscilla, being then
very sick also, they told her that he was dead. She answered that she
did not believe that God would part them so soon. The said Priscilla,
when born, was laid for dead, no one minding her, but all the women
Avent to help her mother, who was then like to die after her delivery ;
but at last an old woman, taking the child in her arms, carried it
downstairs, and using means, brought her to life. The other women,
missing the child, and hearing the old woman had carried her down to
get life in her, laughed at her, as thinking it impossible to bring the
child to life ; but in a little time she brought it into the chamber,
to the amazement of them all, and said she might live to be an old
woman; and so she did to the age of fifty-two, and had nine children."
The following cases are from Mrs. Crowe's " Night Side of Nature,"
pp. 133-136:—
"Dr. Burns mentions a girl at Canton who lay in a trance, hearing
«very word that was said around her, but utterly unable to move a
finger. She tried to cry out but could not, and supposed that she was
really dead. The horror of finding that she was about to be buried at
length caused a perspiration to appear on her skin, and she finally
revived. She described that she felt that her soul had no power to act
upon her body, and that it seemed to be in her body and out of it at
the same time.''''
"Lady Fanshawe related the case of her mother, who, being sick of a
fever, her friends and servants thought her deceased, and she lay in that
state for two days and a night ; but Mr. Winslow, coming to comfort my
father, went into my mother's room, and looking earnestly into her face,
said, ' She was so handsome, and looked so lovely, that he could not
think her dead,' and suddenly taking a lancet out of his pocket he cut
the sole of her foot, which bled : upon this he immediately caused her
to be removed to the bed again, and she opened her eyes, after rubbing
and other restorative means, and came to life."
" On the loth of January, 1717, Mr. John Gardner, a minister at Elgin,
fell into a trance, and being to all appearances dead, he was put into a
coffin, and on the second day was carried to the grave. But fortunately a
noise being heard, the coffin was opened, and he was found alive and
taken home again, where, according to the record, * he related many
strange and amazing things which he had seen in the othe world.'"
382 HISTORICAL CASES OF RESTORATION
Under the head of "Suspended Animation: Cases of Recovery, etc.,"
the Report of the Royal Humane Society for 1816-17, PP- 48-50, copies
the following : — " A young lady, an attendant on the Prince?s of ,
after having been confined to her bed for a great length of time with a
violent disorder, was at last, to all appearances, deprived of life. Her
lips were quite pale, her face resembled the countenance of a dead
person, and her body became cold.
"She was removed from the room in which she died, was laid in a
coffin, and the day of her funeral was fixed on. The day arrived, and,
according to the custom of the country, funeral songs and hymns were
sung before the door. Just as they were about to nail on the lid of the
coffin a slight perspiration was observed to appear on the surface of
her body. It grew greater every moment, and at last a kind of con-
vulsive motion was observed in the hands and feet of the corpse. A
few moments after, during which time fresh signs of returning life
appeared, she at once opened her eyes and uttered a pitiable shriek.
Physicians were quickly procured, and in the course of a few days she
was considerably restored, and is probably alive at this day."
The description which she herself gave of her situation is extremely
remarkable, and forms a curious and authentic addition to psychology : —
"She said it seemed to her, as if in a dream, that she was really
dead ; yet she was perfectly conscious of all that happened around her
in this dreadful state. She distinctly heard her friends speaking, and
lamenting her death at the side of her coffin. She felt them pull on
the dead -clothes and lay her in it. This feeling produced a mental
anxiety which was indescribable. She tried to cry, but her soul was
without power and could not act on her body. She had the contradictory
feeling as if she were in her body and yet not in it at one and the
same time. It was equally impossible for her to stretch out her arms,
or to open her eyes, or to cry. The internal anguish of her mind was,
however, at its utmost height wrhen the funeral hymns began to be sung
and w7hen the lid of the coffin was about to be nailed on. The thought
that she was to be buried alive was the first one which gave activity
to her soul, and caused it to operate on her corporeal frame."
Related by Dr. Herz in the "Psychological Magazine," and transcribed
by Sir Alexander Crichton in the introduction to his essay on "Mental
Derangement." (2 vols., Lond., 1798.)
" One of the most frightful cases extant is that of Dr. Walker, of
Dublin, who had so strong a presentiment on this subject that he had
FROM APPARENT DEATH. 383
actually written a treatise against the Irish custom of hasty burial. He
himself subsequently died, as was believed, of a fever. His decease
took place in the night, and on the following day he was interred.
At this time Mrs. Bellamy, the once-celebrated actress, was in Ireland ;
and as she had promised him, in the course of conversation, that she
would take care he should not be laid in the earth till unequivocal signs
of dissolution had appeared, she no sooner heard of what had happened
than she took measures to have the grave reopened ; but it was
unfortunately too late. Dr. Walker had evidently revived, and had
turned upon his side ; but life was quite extinct."
Mr. Horace Welby, in a chapter on " Premature Interment," says
that "the Rev. Owen Manning, the historian of Surrey, during his
residence at Cambridge University caught small-pox, and was reduced
by the disorder to a state of insensibility and apparent death. The body
was laid out and preparations were made for the funeral, when Mr.
Manning's father, going into the chamber to take a last look at his
son, raised the imagined corpse from its recumbent position, saying, ' I
will give my poor boy another chance,' upon which signs of vitality
were apparent. He was therefore removed by his friend and fellow-
student, Dr. Heberden, and ultimately restored to health."— " The Mys-
teries of Life and Death," pp. 115, 116.
A most conspicuous and interesting monument in St. Giles's Church,
Cripplegate, London (where Cromwell was married and John Milton
buried), is associated with a remarkable case of trance or catalepsy.
In the chancel is a striking sculptured figure in memory of Constance
Whitney, a lady of remarkable gifts, whose rare excellences are fully
described in the tablet. She is represented as rising from her coffin.
Welby, at p. 116, relates the story that she had been buried while in a
state of suspended animation, but was restored to life through the
cupidity of the sexton, which induced him to disinter the body to
obtain possession of a valuable ring left upon her finger, which he
concluded could be of no use to the wearer. A study of the facts of
premature burial shows that the rifling of tombs and coffins to obtain
valuables has in other instances revealed similar tragic occurrences.
The often-cited case of Mrs. Goodman, one of those recalled to life
by the sexton's attempt to remove a ring from the finger, is thus related
in the " History of Bandon," by George Bennett : —
Hannah, wife of Rev. Richard Goodman, vicar of Ballymodan,
Bandon, from 1692 to 1737, fell into ill-health, and apparently died.
384 HISTORICAL CASES OF RESTORATION
Two or three days after her decease the body was taken to Rosscar-
bery Cathedral, and there laid in the family vault of the Goodmans.
The attempt of the sexton to recover a valuable diamond ring from the
finger is said to have been made at an early hour the next morning.
Much violence was used, so that the corpse moved, yawned, and
sat up. The sexton having fled in terror, leaving his lantern behind
and the church door open, the lady in her shroud made her way out
of the vault and through the church to the residence of her brother-in-
law, the Rev. Thomas Goodman, which was just outside the churchyard.
Having been admitted, after some delay and consternation, she was put
to bed, and fell asleep soon after, her brother-in-law and his man-servant
keeping watch over her until midday, when she awoke refreshed. She
is said to have shown herself in the village in the afternoon, to have
supped with the family in the evening, and to have set out for home
on horseback next morning. She is said to have survived this episode
for some years, and to have borne a son subsequent to it, who died at
an advanced age at Innishannon, a village near Bandon.
In Smith's "History of Cork,"' vol. ii., p. 428, the same incident is
thus mentioned: — "Mr. John Goodman, ot Cork, died in January,
1747? aged about fourscore ; but what is remarkable of him, his
mother was interred while she lay in a trance, having been buried in
a vault, etc. . . . This Mr. Goodman was born some time after."
Mr. Peckard, Master ot Magdalen College, Cambridge, in a work
entitled " Further Observations on the Doctrine of an Intermediate
State," mentions that Mrs. Godfrey, Mistress of the Jewel Office, and
sister of the great Duke of Marlborough, is stated to have lain in a
trance, apparently dead, for seven days, and was declared by her
medical attendants to have been dead. Colonel Godfrey, her husband,
would not allow her to be interred, or the body to be treated in the
manner of a corpse ; and on the eighth day she awoke, without any
consciousness of her long insensibility.
The daughter of Henry Laurens, of South Carolina, the first President
of the American Congress during the Revolutionary War, died when
young of small-pox. At all events a medical certificate pronounced her
dead, and she was shrouded and coffined for interment. It was
customary in those days to confine the patient amidst red curtains with
.closed windows. After the certificate of death had been duly made out,
the curtains were thrown back and the windows opened. The fresh air
FROM APPARENT DEATH. 385
revived the patient, who recovered and lived to a mature age. This
circumstance occasioned on her father so powerful a dread of living
interment that he directed by will that his body should be burnt, and
enjoined on his children the performance of this wish as a sacred duty.
Bouchut, in his " Signes de la Mort," p. 58, relates that the physician
of Queen Isabella of Spain was treating a man during a dangerous
illness, and as he went to see his patient one morning he was informed
by the assistants that the man had died. He entered, and found the
body, in the habit of the Order of St. Francis, laid out upon a board.
Nothing daunted, he had him put back to bed in spite of the ridicule
of those present, and the patient soon revived and fully recovered.
The following cases are from Koppen (see Bibliography, I799): —
Vienna, 1791. — A castle guard (portitr) was in a trance for several
days. His funeral was prepared, and he was placed in a coffin. All
at once he unexpectedly opened his eyes and called out, " Mother,
where is the coffee?"
Halle, 1753.— In the register of deaths at St. Mary's Church is the
following entry: — "Shoemaker Casper Koch was buried, aged eighty-
one years. Thirty years ago he had died, to all appearances, and was
put in a coffin, when suddenly, when they were about to bury him, he
recovered his consciousness."
Haag, Holland, 1785. — The son of a cook died, and while the coffin
was being carried to the graveyard he was heard to knock. On
opening the coffin he was found alive. He was taken home and was
restored.
In the " Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine," edited by John Forbes,
M.D., F.R.S., and others, 1847, vol. i., pp. 548, 549, is the following: —
"A remarkable instance of resuscitation after apparent death occurred in
France, in the neighbourhood of Douai, in the year 1745, and is related
by Rigaudeaux (Journal des Sfavans, 1749,), to whom the case was
confided. He was summoned in the morning to attend a woman in
labour, at a distance of about a league. On his arrival he was
informed that she had died in a convulsive fit two hours previously.
The body was already prepared for interment, and on examination he
could discover no indications oi life. The os uteri was sufficiently
-dilated to enable him to turn the child and deliver by the feet. The
child appeared to be dead also ; but by persevering in the means of
resuscitation for three hours they excited some signs of vitality, which
encouraged them to proceed, and their endeavours were ultimately
3^ RESUSCITATION OF STILL-LORN
crowned with complete success. Rigaudeaux again carefully examined
the mother, and was confirmed in the belief of her death ; but he found
that, although she had been in that state for seven hours, her limbs
retained their flexibility. Stimulants were applied in vain ; he took his
leave, recommending that the interment should be deferred until the
flexibility was lost. At five p.m. a messenger came to inform him
that she had revived at half-past three. The mother and child were
both alive three years after."
APPENDIX B.
RESUSCITATION OF STILL-BORN AND OTHER INFANTS.
THE danger of premature burial of still-born (apparently dead) infants-
is clearly shown by the following quotation from Tidy's " Legal
Medicine," part ii., page 253, from tables given on the authority of
the British and Foreign Medical Review, No. ii., p. 235, based on
eight millions of births. " It would appear that from one in eighteen
to one in twenty births are still-born. Dr. Lever found that the
proportion in his three thousand cases was one in eighteen. So
notorious is it that a large number of these deaths could be averted
that some legislation is urgently needed, requiring that still-borns,
whose bodies weigh, say, not less than two pounds (the average weight
about the sixth and seventh months at which children are viable),
should not be buried without registration and a medical examination."
Many instances can be found in current medical literature of still-born
infants that have been revived by artificial respiration. Such cases not
infrequently revive without any means being employed for their
resuscitation ; but among the poor, who dispose of the new-born
apparently dead in a hasty manner, they might be buried alive through
carelessness. The use of mortuaries, where the seeming dead would be
kept under observation until decomposition appears, would of course
prevent such disasters.
Struve, in the essay cited in the Bibliography (1802), says: —
"All still-born children should be considered as only apparently
dead, and the resuscitative process ought never to be neglected. Some-
times two hours or more will elapse before reanimation can be effected.
An ingenious man-midwife, says Bruhier, was employed for several
AND OTHER INFANTS. 387
hours in the revival of an apparently still-torn child, and as his
endeavours proved unavailing, he considered the subject really dead.
Being, however, accidentally detained, he again turned his attention to
the child, and by continuing the resuscitative method for some time it
was unexpectedly restored to life" (p. 150).
The following is one of Struve's most striking cases : —
A Mr. E. called in 18 to obtain a certificate of death for a
still-born child of seven months' gestation. Arriving at the house, the
doctor found the child laid upon a little straw and covered with a slight
black shawl; this was one p.m., and the child had been there since
five a.m. It was icy cold, and there was no heart sound nor
respiration, but there was a slight muscular twitching over the region
of the heart. The child was immersed in a hot bath and artificial
respiration employed, but for twenty minutes the case seemed hopeless ;
then the eyes opened and after continued effort the respirations began,
laborious and interrupted at first, then normal by degrees. The child
was saved, and became an accomplished violinist.
The mortality and waste of infant life, particularly in large cities like
Paris, London, Berlin, Vienna, and New York, is admitted by all
investigators to be enormous. In France medical writers, in view of
the small percentage of births to population, are waking up to the
realisation that the State cannot afford the loss, and that, among other
things, steps should be taken to resuscitate the still-born, so that none
should be buried before unequivocal signs of death are manifested.1
The premature abandonmen of the still-born among the poorer classes
in crowded cities is only too probable. There are also cases recorded
which show a corresponding risk to infants who have survived their
birth : —
The British Medical Journal ', January 21, 1871, p. 71, gives the
following case, under the heading "Alive in a Coffin" : — Stories of this
kind are generally very apocryphal ; but the following reaches us from
an authentic source. A child narrowly escaped being buried alive last
week in Manchester. The infant's father had died, and was to be
buried in Ardwick Cemetery. The day before the burial the infant was
taken ill, and apparently died. A certificate of death was procured
from a surgeon's assistant who had seen the child, and, to save expense,
1 During the five years ending 1895 the population of France, where of all
European countries premature burial is most in vogue, has increased by only
JSS-Sig, or, leaving out the immigration of alien population, the increase is under
30,000. The population for all practical purposes may be regarded as stationary.
388 RESUSCITATION OF STILL-BORN
it was decided to place it in the same coffin with the father. This
was done, and the next morning the bearers set off to the cemetery
with their double burden ; but before reaching the graveyard a cry was
heard to issue from the coffin. The lid being removed, the infant
was discovered alive and kicking. It was at once removed to a
neighbour's house, but died eight hours afterwards.
The British Medical Journal, 1885, ii., p. 841, gives the following
case, under the heading "Death or Coma?"
"The close similarity which is occasionally seen to connect the
appearance of death with that of exhaustion following disease was lately
illustrated in a somewhat striking manner. An infant seized with con-
vulsions was supposed to have died about three weeks ago at Stamford
Hill. After five days' interval, preparations were being made for its
interment when, at the grave's mouth, a cry was heard to come from
the coffin. The lid was taken off, and the child was found to be alive;
it was taken home, and is recovering."'
The following is from Tidy's "Legal Medicine," part, i, p. 29: —
" In a communication to the French Academy, Professor Fort mentions
a child (<cfat. three) having been resuscitated by artificial respiration
continued for four hours, and not commenced until three and a half
hours after its apparent decease.
" Ogston records one case of a child alive for seven hours, and a
second case of a young woman alive for four hours, after they had been
left as dead."
From the Lancet, April 22. 1882, p. 675 : —
" PREMATURE INTERMENT.
"A daily contemporary states that at the gates of the Avignon
cemetery the parents of a child, certified to have died of croup, insisted
on having the coffin opened to take a last look. The child was found
breathing, and is expected to be saved."
The following letter to the editor of the Lancet, March 31, 1866, p.
360, illustrates the danger to which infants believed to be dead are
exposed under one of our traditional customs : —
" LAYING-OUT OF DEAD INFANTS.
" Sir, — In your journal of last Saturday, among the ' Medical Annota-
tions,' you notice the inquiry into the circumstances under which an
infant, being still living and moving, was ' bandaged ' beneath the chin,
and ' laid-out ' at St. Pancras Workhouse. Allow me to state that in
AND OTHER INFANTS. 389
the Lancet, vol. ii., 1850, a contribution from me 'On the Danger of
Tying-up the Lower Jaw immediately after Supposed Death' was
published. An infant, aged two months, was brought to me on a
Friday with the lower jaw tied up by its mother, who asked for a
certificate of death ; but on my removing the bandage the child began
to show symptoms of vitality, and it lived until the following Monday.
C. J. B. ALDIS, M.D., F.R.C.P.
"Chester Terrace, Chester Square, March 26, 1866."
It is recorded that Dr. Doddridge showed so little signs of life at
his birth that he was laid aside as dead, but one of the attendants,
observing some signs of life, took the baby under her charge, and by
her judicious treatment perfectly restored it.
Mr. Highmore, Secretary of the London Lying-in Hospital, by a
communication to the Royal Humane Society, April, 1816, confirmed
the statement of Mrs. Catherine Widgen, the matron of that excellent
establishment, that, by a zealous perseverance in the means recommended
by that Society, she had been the happy instrument of restoring from
a state of apparent death in the space of three years no less than forty-
five infants, who, but for her humane attention and indefatigable
exertions, must have been consigned to the grave. Later on, Mrs.
Widgen restored in one year twenty-seven apparently dead-born children
— a striking instance of the truth of the remark of a celebrated writer
(Osiander) that "the generality of infants considered as still-born are
only apparently so ; if, therefore, persons would persevere in their exertions
to revive them most of them might be restored." — "Report of the
Royal Humane Society," 1816-17, pp. 52-54.
" For these exertions the General Court adjudged the Honorary
Medallion to Mrs. Widgen, and it was accordingly presented to her by
His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent." — Ibid.) p. 52.
[The question natuarally suggests itself in this place : If the matron
of such a noble institution as the above was able to save seventy-two
apparently dead children from the grave in four years, how many of these
poor little beings are consigned to the grave all over the world for
lack of the "humane attention and indefatigable exertions" such as
this skilful matron gave to those that came under her intelligent care?]
" RECURRENCE OF SUSPENDED ANIMATION.
"A child, who had a cough for some time, was suddenly attacked
with difficulty of breathing, and to all appearances died. A medical
390 RESUSCITATION OF STILL-BORN
gentleman immediately inflated the lungs, and by persisting in this for
a considerable time recovered the child. A similar state of suspended
animation took place three or four times, and inflation was as often had
recourse to with the same success ; but the attack happening, unfortun-
ately, to recur whilst the medical gentleman in whose family the case
happened was from home, the proper measures were not taken, and
the child was lost." — Ibid., p. 140.
" SHOCK FROM LIGHTNING.
"A boy was struck down by a flash 'of lightning near Hoxton (in the
suburbs of London), and lay exposed to the rain at least an hour, until
his companions carried him home on some boards, apparently dead —
the body being stiff and universally cold, the fingers and toes contracted,
and the countenance livid. He was stripped of his wet clothes, put in
hot blankets, and bled twenty ounces. In half an hour interrupted
respiration commenced, without inflating the lungs ; in an hour more
regular pulsation and breathing were established, together with power of
swallowing; and in a week he was quite well." — Ibid, p. 147.
In the Lancet, 1884, vol. i., p. 922, W. Arnold Thomson, F.R. C.S.I.,
reports a case of resuscitation of a child delivered by the forceps, which
was "apparently to myself [he says] and the nurse and relatives a per-
fectly dead child, and with no signs of respiration or life about it. . .
My opinion was that the death was real and positive, but that, there
being no actual disease present, and the blood still warm, the machinery
of life was set going, and resuscitation followed as a consequence of
suitable means being taken and persevered in without undue delay. In
the future I do not intend to allow any still-born children to be put
away without making strenuous efforts to restore vitality."
The Lancet, 1880, vol. ii., p. 582 : — In a discussion at the Royal
Medical and Chirurgical Society upon Artificial Respiration in New-born
Children, Dr. Roper related three cases in which the child was left for
dead. " One of these occurred in the practice of Mr. Brown, of St.
Mary Axe. The child was still-born in the absence of a medical man.
It was taken to the surgery, and thence to the late Mr. Solly, who next
day, in dissecting the body, found that the heart was still beating. A
second instance was of a fetus of five months and a half, which was
set aside as dead, Dr. Roper attending the mother, who was suffering
from hemorrhage. He was astonished next day to find that this
immature child, which had lain on the floor for eleven hours through a
AND OTHER INFANTS. 391
cold night, was breathing and its heart beating. ..." Such examples
show that the new-born have greater tenacity of life than is supposed.
The Lancet, 1881. vol. ii., page 430, under the heading of " The Burial
of Still-born Infants," states that " Greater security for the due observance
of these necessary regulations (the Births and Deaths Registration Act
of 1874) for the burial of infants said to be still-born is urgently called
for. It is constantly patent that the burial of deceased infants as still-
born, if checked, is by no means prevented ; and that the authorities of
burial-grounds, by their laxity in carrying out the provisions of the Act,
afford dangerous facilities for the concealment of crime, or negligence,
and for a practice which threatens to impair the value of our birth and
death registration statistics ; for, if a live-born infant be buried as still-
born, neither its birth nor its death is registered."
A case of forceps-delivery occurred in the hands of Dr. E. P. Vollum
in which the child, when extracted, was quite purple in colour, and
absolutely dead to all appearances — there was no breathing nor impulse
to be found anywhere. After some efforts at resuscitation in the way of
artificial respiration — not very thoroughly done, nor much prolonged (for
the child was believed to be dead) — with a warm bath and frictions, it
was laid aside and covered up. At a subsequent visit, some hours later,
the child was found in the nurse's lap completely recovered, and
changed in colour to a bright pink. The nurse said she did not like
to give the little fellow up, and by breathing into his mouth for some
time he showed returning life, and by keeping it up he soon began to
breathe himself.
Cases like this are believed to be not infrequent, because physicians
and nurses are not, as a general rule, aware of the great tenacity of life
possessed by the new-born infant.
" Still-births are not registered in England; but, under the New
Registration Act, no still-born child can be buried without a certificate
from a registered practitioner in attendance, or a declaration from a
midwife, to the effect that the child was still-born. The proportion of
still-births in this country is supposed to be about four per cent., but
this is uncertain." — A. Newsholme, "Vital Statistics," 1889, p. 61.
" The proportion of deaths from premature births, compared with the
total number of births, in 1861-65 was II'I9 to i»ooo births; since
which time it has steadily increased, reaching the ratio of 15*89 per
births in 1,000 in 1887." — Ibid, p. 216.
The same author, p. 17, states that "a certain proportion of the
392 RECOVERY OF THE DROWNED.
births remain unregistered (a). There is strong reason for thinking
that a certain number of children born alive are buried as still-born."
The editor has repeatedly restored "still-born" children, in whom no
signs of life were apparent, by vigorous and continued artificial respira-
tion and friction. It is to be presumed that in the hands of midwives
many such lives have been lost.
APPENDIX C.
RECOVERY OF THE DROWNED.
THIS is perhaps the best known and most generally appreciated occa-
sion of rescuing the apparently dead. The high degree in which it has-
excited public sympathy will appear from a glance at that section of the
Bibliography (towards the end of the eighteenth century) which gives
the titles of essays and reports connected with the Royal Humane Society
and the corresponding foreign institutions upon which our own was
modelled. The following general remarks and cases are from the essay
of Dr. Struve, of Gorlitz, Lusatia, 1802 : —
" A great number of persons apparently drowned have been restored,
to life without the use of stimulants, merely by the renovated suscepti-
bility of irritation. I have collected thirty-six cases of persons apparently
drowned in Lusatia from the year I772 to the year 1792. Most of them
were treated by uninformed people, and revived by friction and warming;
two persons, however, were indebted for their lives to the continuation
of the resuscitative process for several hours. The greatest number
were children; which is to be ascribed not only to the greater danger
to which they are exposed of drowning, but also to the longer continu-
ance of vital power in the infant frame" (p. 136).
' ' A boy of about a year and a half old had lain upwards of a quarter
of an hour in the water, and was found face downwards, and the whole
body livid and swollen. He was undressed, wiped dry, and wrapped in
warm blankets; but the most particular part of the process was rolling
the body upon a table, shaking it by the shoulders, and rubbing the feet.
This having been continued for an hour, a convulsive motion was
observed in the toes; sneezing was excited by snuff; the tongue stimu-
lated by strong vinegar; the throat irritated with a feather; an injection
RECOVERY OF THE DROWNED. 393
given. The child vomited a large quantity of water, and in an hour
afterwards began to breathe, and was completely restored to life."
(P- 137).
"A woman upwards of thirty years of age, and who was affected with
epilepsy, fell in a fit from a height of twenty feet into the water, where
she remained a full quarter of an hour before she was taken out. Mr.
Redlich, surgeon, of Hamburg, had her put into a bed warmed by hot
bottles; she was rubbed with warm flannels, some spirits were dropped
into her mouth, when in a quarter of an hour symptoms of life, such as
convulsive motion and a very weak pulse, appeared. In three hours
from the time she was taken out of the water she recovered completely."
(p. 138). .
Dr. Charles Londe, in a remarkable pamphlet (Lettre sur la Mort
Apparente, les Consequences Reelles des Inhumations Precipitees, et le
Temps pendant lequel peut persister 1'eptitude a etre rapele a la Vie."
Paris, Bailliere, 1854), records some instances of narrow escapes from
premature burial <5f the drowned, one of which may be cited : —
" On the 1 3th of July, 1829, about two p.m., near the Pont des Arts,
Paris, a body, which appeared lifeless, was taken out of the river. It
was that of a young man, twenty years of age, dark complexioned, and
strongly built. The corpse was discoloured and cold ; the face and lips
swollen and tinged with blue ; a thick and yellowish froth exuded from
the mouth; the eyes were open, fixed, and motionless; the limbs limp
and drooping. No pulsation of the heart nor trace of 1 es pi ration was
perceptible. The body had remained under water for a considerable
time; the search for it, made in Dr. Bourgeois's presence, lasted fully
twenty minutes. That gentleman did not hesitate to incur the derision
of the lookers-on by proceeding to attempt the resuscitation of what, in
their eyes, was a mere lump of clay. Nevertheless, several hours after-
wards, the supposed corpse was restored to life, thanks to the obstinate
perseverance of the doctor, who, although a strong man and enjoying
robust health, was several times on the point of losing courage and
abandoning the patient in despair. But what would have happened if Dr.
Bourgeois, instead of persistently remaining stooping over the inanimate
body, with watchful eye and attentive ear., to catch the first rustling of
the heart, had left the drowned man, after half an hour's fruitless
endeavour, as often happens? The unfortunate man would have been
laid in the grave, although capable of restoration to life .' "
To this case Dr. Bourgeois, in the "Archives de Medicine," adds
others, in which individuals remained under water as long as six HOURS,
26
394 RECOVERY OF THE DROWNED.
and were recalled to life by efforts which a weaker conviction than his
own would have refrained from making. These facts lead Dr. Londe
to the conclusion that every day drowned individuals are buried who,
with greater pe> severance, might be restored to life!
The following case in point appears in tne Sunny side, New York, com-
municated by J. W. Green, M.D.: —
" A few years since I was walking by the Central Park, near One
Hundred and Tenth Street and Fifth Avenue. Noticing a crowd that was
acting in an unusual manner by the side of the lake, I approached and
inquired of one of the bystanders what was the cause of the excitement.
He replied, ' A boy is drowned.' I advanced to the edge of the water,
and saw two or three men in the water searching for the body. As they
had not yet discovered it, I made enquiries, and found at last a small boy
who had been a comrade of the victim. He showed me the spot from
which the boy had fallen. I then pointed out to the searchers where to
look, and immediately the body was recovered. I took it at once from
i he hands of the person who had it, and held it reversed, in order to
disembarrass it of all the water possible, for a minute or two, then
stripped it of its clothing, sent for a blanket and brandy. I took a
woollen coat from one of the bystanders until the blanket should arrive,
laid the child upon it and commenced to rotate it. This I continued
to do for at least fifteen minutes by the watch. I then tried auscultation ;
no murmur could be heard.
"The skin was cold, the lips were blue. Every artery was still.
With all these signs of death present it was still obligatory upon me
to persevere. At the end of fifteen minutes there was a slight gasp.
A small quantity of brandy was placed upon the tongue. A little of
this ran into the larynx, and the stimulation was sufficient to produce a
long inspiration a' d then a cough. This was more than a half-hour
from ihe time when the boy had been removed from the water.
Complete restoraiion did not occur until nearly an hour from that time.
He was now given to his mother, and I was informed on the following
day that he entirely recovered, without an unfavourable symptom."
The three following cases of resuscitation from apparent death by
drowning are copied from the most recent reports of the Royal Humane
.Society, London : —
" On 1 3th of August, 1895, Samuel Lawrence, aged five years, while
playing on the bank of a disused claypit at South Bank, Yorkshire,
fell into the water and sank. Two ot his companions dived into the
water and brought him up, after a submersion of from seven to ten
RECOVERY OF THE DROWNED. 395
minutes, in an unconscious state. Two working men commenced arti-
ficial respiration, and Dr. Steele continued it for ten hours before the
boy showed signs of returning sensibility and his complete recovery."
"October 6th, 1895. — At Deptford, Surrey, a woman with a baby in
her arms threw herself into the canal. They were rescued by the
Royal Humane Society's drags. Two ladies took possession of the
bodies (time of submersion not stated), and they employed Sylvester's
system of artificial respiration with success, in the case of the woman
in about one hour, and with the child one hour and a half."
"August 6th, 1895. — At Bradford, England, Rudolf Pratt, a clerk
with Midland R.R. Company, was bathing, and sank in deep water.
A bystander by diving brought him up. After a submersion of five
minutes, unconscious, and not breathing, Dr. Oldham restored respiration
by Sylvester's method after one and a half hour's treatment."
These three cases are instructive on account of the length of time
animation remained suspended before it could be aroused to a state of
activity ; and they lead to the belief that many cases that are given
up as actually dead could be saved if efforts at resuscitation were kept
up for a lengthened period, as in the first case.
In cases of drowning some persons are quickly revived after a long
submersion ; others again, who are under water only a short time,
require artificial respiration for a long time before they show signs of
returning life, as was the case with Samuel Lawrence, who was
submerged only ten minutes, yet required ten hours' active treatment
to revive him.
APPENDIX D.
EMBALMING IN THE UNITED STATES.
THE Casket, Rochester, New York, September, 1896, observes:— At
^different times considerable opposition has been raised against embalming
by Boards of Health and other officials in various localities, on account
of the haste with which the embalmer proceeds with his duties. A few
recent cases of supposed corpses recovering, one of which occurred in
Philadelphia, Pa., have revived the question, and it is reported that the
Philadelphia Board of Health may take action, looking to the enactment
of a law prescribing the period of time which should elapse after death
•before a body should be embalmed.
396 EMBALMING IN THE IGNITED STATES.
In a recent issue of the Philadelphia Times, Funeral- Director Johm
J. O'Rourke, a well-known professional of that city, expresses himself"
on the subject as follows : —
"These two narrow escapes from burial alive have further impressed1
me with one of the perils attending the disposition of the dead — I mean
the danger of hasty embalming. As you know, in most cases the doctor
who has had the patient is not called in after death, and very often the
relatives of the deceased expect the undertaker, if embalming is to be
done, to proceed with it at once. All the embalming schools teach
that the only proper way to thus treat the body is by use of fluids-
through the arteries. But in the lectures on the subject no period that
should be permitted to elapse before it is begun is prescribed, and, as a..
rule, it follows dissolution as quickly as possible.
" I contend that there should be some law or official rule governing'
the matter, because after the artery is punctured and the fluid goes-
through the whole body it is sure to destroy any spark of life that
might remain. I have never met with any cases of resuscitation myself,
but have had instances of deaths that made me hesitate in the work of
embalming. Some months ago a man came to me fifteen minutes after
a relative had breathed his last and asked me to embalm the body. I.
went to the house, and, after seeing the corpse, refused, saying that I
would not do it until after the expiration of twelve hours. The man1
had died of consumption, yet, for fear of it being a case of suspended,
animation, I would take no chances.
"At another time a person had died of dropsy. Within half an hour
I was summoned. The attending physician had not been there, and
twenty-four hours afterwards he gave a certificate of death from cancer.
The body was very warm when I arrived, and neighbours who had.
kindly volunteered to prepare it were doubtful if life was extinct. I
had the corpse laid on an embalming table for two hours, and then
placed it in what is known as a Saratoga patent box, in which are pans-
filled with salted ice, so arranged that cold air circulates around the
body. Had this been a case of suspended animation, it would have
taken several hours to dispel the heat within the corpse.
" Of course there are some supposed unmistakable signs. The only
positive signs of dissolution are those which depend on molecular change
or death-rigidity of the muscles of the whole body, and putrefaction of
the tissues. These are most marked in organs and tissues the vital
functions of which are the most active. The action of the heart, the-
movements of respiration, may be reduced as to be altogether imper-
A SCOTTISH INCIDENT. 397
•ceptible, so that the functions of circulation and respiration appear to
be arrested. This is occasionally observed in temporary syncope, in
which a person, to all appearances dead, has after a time regained
consciousness and recovered.
"The peculiar condition of the nervous system called catalepsy, and
the state of trance, are likewise further examples of the so-called
apparent deaths ; but on the occurrence of actual death the irritability
of the muscles by degrees disappears, electricity no longer excites their
contraction, and then cadaverous rigidity sets in. ... Some action
will, in all probability, be urged upon the next Legislature, or upon
the Board of Health."
A SCOTTISH INCIDENT.
The following letter from the editor of the Northern Herald, directed
to a valued correspondent, has been received just as we are going to
press : —
" WICK, September 9, 1904.
"Dear Sir,
" In connection with the question of Premature Burial,
permit me to bring under your notice a case which has just been
reported to me.
"Quite recently an old woman died in Ross-shire, or, at any rate,
was pronounced to be dead by a doctor. A relative of mine was asked
to 'dress' the body. She, with the assistance of a neighbour woman,
undertook the job, and were busy carrying out the last offices of respect,
when the corpse said, ' Oh, I am very faint. Can you give me a draw
of the pipe ? ' It appears that the old lady was in the habit of smoking
a pipe. Both the dressers got such a fright that they ran, as it were,
for dear life, out of the house of the 'dead.' One of them every now
and then is seized with a fit of laughter. So much so, that she has
lost control of herself, and has to adjourn to a retired place to let the
fit run its course.
"The medical man who had declared the old lady to be no more
wired a relative of the 'fact ; but, when he learned that his patient was
* resurrected,' he had to cancel the message.
"I thought this narrative would interest you, and beg to forward it*
" Yours faithfully,
"A. M. Ross.
•"H. N. Mosley, Esq., M.A."
393
APPENDIX E.
SUMMARY OF ORDINANCES, ETC., RELATING TO THE
INSPECTION OF CORPSES AND OF INTERMENTS.
IN the sixteenth Council of Milan, Saint Charles Borromeo prohibited
burials before twelve hours after ordinary cases of death, and twenty-
four hours after cases of sudden death. As early as the sixteenth
century serious attention in the examination of the dead was made
obligatory by the enactment of Article 149 of the Criminal Statutes of
Charles the Fifth. This was the foundation of legal medicine in
Germany. In France, a similar ordinance was first established in 1789.
NETHERLANDS.
Act of April rot /i, 1869.
No burial is allowed without the written permission of the Civil
Recorder, granted upon the production of a certificate of a qualified
physician, and not until thirty six hours have elapsed after death, nor
later than the fifth day after death. But this regulation can be set
aside, and a longer period allowed, by the burgomaster, on the-
application of a doctor.
Dead-houses are in use for bodies dead of infectious diseases.
FRAN KFORT-ON-TKK- MAIN.
Death must first be established by a licensed physician, who carefully
examines the body for that purpose, and, if satisfied, then issues a
certificate which states the name, age, sex, place, and date, and
immediate cause of death. The certificate is taken within twenty-four
hours after the death to the Standesamt, where the death is recorded,
and a certificate to that effect is given, and presented to the Cemetery
Commission, which assigns the place of burial. The corpse is required
to remain unburied three days, either at the place of death or at the
mortuary, where it is under the observation of attendants ; but there is
no State-appointed inspector of the dead, nor electric bells or other
means for announcing and recording any movements of the body. The
system of inspection and certification by qualified physicians, with the
delay of three days, and the favourable condition of the dead-houses,
have been the means of preventing the living from being mistaken for
the dead in a number of cases.
SUMMARY OF ORDINANCES. 399
FRANCE.
Interments must not take place, according to Article 77 of the Code
Napoleon, before twenty-four hours of death, but in practice it is
twenty-four hours after death notification by the mort-verificateur :
During epidemics, or when deaths occur from infectious or contagions,
diseases, the interments must invariably be made within twenty-four
hours of death.
Article 77 of the Civil Code states that "No burial shall take place
without an authorisation, on free paper and without expense, of the
officer of the civil state, who will not be empowered to deliver it,
unless after having visited the deceased person, nor unless twenty-four
hours after the decease, except in cases provided for by the regulations of
the police." It results from this that no corpse can be buried before a
minimum delay of twenty-four hours shall have expired after the decease.
The formal record of the decease must be made by the officer of the
civil state (the mayor), or, which is what takes place in most of the
communes, by a medical man delegated by the mayor, and who takes
the title of medical officer of the civil state.
The Article 77 of the Civil Code is generally strictly observed in
Paris and in other cities of France. The obligation to await the delay
of twenty-four hours is intended to prevent too hasty burials. One
considers, in fact, that that delay is generally necessary in order to be
able to have certain proofs of death.
By Article 358 of the Penal Code, the burial of a deceased person
without such authorisation is punishable by a maximum period of two
months' imprisonment, and a maximum fine of fifty francs, without
prejudice to other criminal proceedings which may be applicable under
the circumstances.
Exceptions, however, have been established in certain cases. For
example, in times of epidemics, or of too rapid decomposition of the
corpse in the usual case, there is urgent need, in fact, to bury the body
of a person attacked with a contagious or epidemic malady, in order to
suppress one of the causes of propagation of the epidemic, or of the
contagion. In the second case, it is understood that one could not
keep longer, without danger to the public health, a corpse in complete
putrefaction. There is occasion also to observe that, in these circum-
stances, the end which the legislator has proposed to himself is equally
obtained, since there cannot be any doubt as to the real death. How-
ever that may be, it is the mayor (officer of the civil state) to whom
it appertains, according to the terms of the Article 77 of the Civil Code,
400 SUMMARY OF ORDINANCES.
to give authority to bury ; and if he gives that authorisation before the
expiration of the delay of twenty-four hours, it is after having established
by himself, or by the medical officer of the civil state, the fact of its
necessity, resulting from the circumstances of which we have just
spoken.
It is to be remarked that the Article 77 fixes a minimum and not a
maximum delay. It is always the mayor to whom it appertains to fix:
the day and the hour of the burial, and there may happen such and
such a circumstance which necessitates a delay of the obsequies. The
mayor need only assure himself in that case that no danger will result
to the public health, which naturally is the" case when the corpse is
embalmed, or is placed in a leaden coffin.
Outside Paris and other large cities, and especially in the rural
districts, much laxity prevails both as to verification of death and the
time of burial, and cases of premature burial are not infrequent.
AUSTRIA.
The laws relative to funerals and burials are very strict — perhaps
the most thorough in their requirements of any in Europe. They
provide for a very careful inspection of the body by medical inspectors,
quite independently of the attending physicians, in order to ascertain if the
death be absolute. Minute and specific official directions guide them
as to the method of examination and the signs of death to be looked
for. And they further provide for carrying out any particular method,
as to which the deceased may have given directions, in order to
prevent a possible revival in the coffin. Should the surviving relatives
desire it, a post-mortem operation may be made upon the body, in the
presence of the medical inspectors and the police ; in which case the
heart is pierced through ; and a full report of the operations must be
forwarded to the civic magistrate. A fee of six florins is allowed for
such an operation.
CITY OK VIENNA.
Every death is to be inquired into by the municipal physician. The
first of five objects is to ascertain whether the person be really dead.
In examining whether there are any remaining indications of life, he
will rely not upon any one sign, nor even upon putrefaction, but upon
the totality of the signs of death. If there are any indications of life
remaining, he must at once institute the means of resuscitation approved
by science, and continue them until such time as the family medical
attendant is assured of their uselessness. If there be any doubt as to
SUMMARY OF ORDINANCES. 4o1
the reality of the death, a second inspection of the body is to be made
by the municipal physician within twenty-four hours. Burial, as a rule,
is not to be until forty-eight hours after death ; but the interval may be
shortened in cases of infectious diseases or of unusually rapid decom-
position.
PROVINCE OF DALMATIA.
Vice- Governor's Order of 2Qth April, 1894.
Every death to be inquired into by the parish physician, or a deputy
appointed by the mayor. The first of six objects of the inquest is
to ascertain whether the person be really dead. In the event of a
non-medical examiner discovering signs of life, he is to send for a
doctor. Inasmuch as decomposition, the only sure sign of death, is, as a
rule, a phenomenon of later occurrence than the time appointed for the
inquest (within twelve hours of the notification of death), the examining
person must base his certainty of the extinction of life, not upon one
sign, but upon the totality of the signs of death.
KINGDOM OF SAXONY.
Law of 2OtJi /uly, 1850.
The burial of a corpse must not take place until seventy-two hours
after death, and the signs of decomposition are clearly visible. Any
proposed departure from this rule, in the event of earlier putrefaction,
or the absence of decomposition at the end of seventy-two hours,
requires the authority of a physician called in. By the above Law the
following Orders are suspended: (i) the Order of nth February, 1792,
concerning the treatment of the dead, and the precautions necessary to
prevent the apparently dead from being buried prematurely ; (2) the
General Order of I3th February, 1801, concerning precautionary measures
in the burial of those dead of infectious diseases; (3) the Law of 22nd
June, 1841, together with the Administrative Orders concerning the
examination of corpses and the establishment of mortuaries.
CITY OF MUNICH.
Order of 3Oth October, 1848.
The ordinance hitherto in' force, as to making an incision in the sole
of the foot in cases of patients who die in the hospitals, is abolished ;
the hospital physicians to use their discretion whether or not the incision
should be made; but, in cases for which is demanded an earlier burial
than is visually prescribed, whether they have been hospital or private
402 SUMMARY OF ORDINANCES.
patients, the incision is to be made in the sole of the foot at the end1!
of the second inspection, and every other means taken to ascertain,
whether the death be apparent or real.
CALCUTTA.
1. The prevailing custom for Christians and Mahomedans is to bury the-
dead. The Hindoos burn them as a rule, but many prefer to throw
them into a sacred river, particularly the Ganges or its tributaries, if
they can do so unmolested by the authorities.
2. There are no mortuaries. The signs which are assumed to indicate
death are the various conditions and appearances when animation is
suspended.
3. Cases of revival from supposed death are sometimes heard of
among the Hindoos, who regard such persons as outcasts. If the signs
of returning life are not very manifest when a person begins to revive,
he is sometimes killed by stuffing the mouth and nose with mud, which
generally accomplishes the object.
BOMBAY.
I. There are no laws or regulations in India for the disposal of the
dead. The customs and formalities follow the traditions and require-
ments of religious belief.
a. The Hindoos burn their dead immediately after death takes place.
b. The Parsees take their dead to a "Tower of Silence" as soon as
death takes place, and, after certain prescribed ceremonies, the
body is speedily devoured by vultures.
1. The Europeans and Mahomedans bury their dead within from
twenty-four to forty-eight hours, because putrefaction usually
sets in soon after death on account of the heat and humidity of
the climate.
2. There are no mortuaries, excepting in connection with hospitals,
where observations can be made.
CAPE TOWN, AFRICA.
i. There are no laws nor regulations relative to the disposal of the
dead, excepting in cases requiring an inquest or post-mortem examina-
tion. The custom is to bury within twenty-four to thirty hours after
death, but the time is sometimes extended to two or three days.
SUMMARY OF ORDINANCES. 403
2. There are no dead-houses, except at the hospitals, which are
under the management of the superintendent.
3. The certificate of the medical attendant is sufficient for burial
purposes. The complete cessation of respiration and the heart's action
are considered an absolute indication of death. When decomposition
sets in, it usually appears within twenty-four hours after death, although
in winter that process may be longer delayed.
Moscow.
Orthodox Russians keep their dead three days before burial. During
that time the body lies with the face uncovered, and a deacon chants
and prays over it twice a day. A medical certificate of death is
imperative before burial.
BRUSSELS.
Burials are regulated by the Communal Council in accordance with
law. The system is complicated, but thorough. The medical men
connected with the Government Medical Service ("Doctors of the
Civil Government") have the sole control of the examinations of deaths,
as well as births, accidents, sudden deaths, suicides ; and attend to
burials, autopsies, postponements of burials, etc., on their own motion.
Interments usually take place within forty-eight hours of death, but
they may be carried out sooner during epidemics for the public safety.
There are mortuaries in the city and suburbs, to which bodies may
be taken at the request of surviving relatives, or by the order of the
health authorities, according to private necessities or for the public
safety. Except by the special authorisation of the officers of the civil
government, bodies cannot remain in the mortuaries longer than forty-
eight hours ; and a burial cannot take place in less than twenty-four
hours. Special care is taken to test the reality of death in still-born
infants, and efforts are made to revive them, as well as all other cases
of seeming death. In cases of women dying during advanced pregnancy,
the infant must be roused by artificial respiration, in order to restore
animation if possible. The process for obtaining a delay for burial is
intricate and cumbersome, and to a foreigner unaccustomed to the
language and the local usages the chances would be against securing,
such a permit before the time allowed for burial had expired.
DENMARK.
Mortuaries are connected with all the churches, cemeteries, and"
some of the hospitals, and are growing in favour in the country places ;
404 SUMMARY OF ORDINANCES.
but as yet they are unprovided with any appliances for the resuscitation
of the apparently dead, or for the prevention of premature burials. No
corpse, however, is allowed to be taken to a mortuary before it has
been inspected, and a death-certificate issued by a qualified physician ;
but, when this is done, death is considered absolute. No corpse is
allowed to remain in any church, chapel, or mortuary longer than
seven days after supposed death, without special permission. Coffins that
contain bodies which have died from infectious diseases must be so
indicated, and cannot be opened in the mortuaries.
As a rule, bodies are kept seventy-two hours before burial. The
signs that are considered sufficient to establish death are the glazed
appearance of the eyes, livid spots on the skin, and muscular rigidity.
In doubtful cases the time before burial can be extended by authority
of the Board of Health, of which the Police Director is ;i member1.
SPAIN.
Burials usually do not take place until twenty-four hour.- after death.
For example, if a death takes place about four p.m., the burial is made
late in the following afternoon. In time of epidemic bodies are
hurried to the cemeteries, where depositories are provided, which are
under the care of watchers until the expiration of twenty-four hours
after death. The certificate of a reputable physician as to death is
sufficient to authorise burial. Relatives or friends usually remain with
the body until burial, excepting in cases when judicial proceedings are
held over it to determine the circumstances of the death.
IRELAND.
There are no laws in Ireland regarding the disposal of the dead, but
the Sanitary Acts of the United Kingdom can be applied in any case
within a reasonable period, on the ground of public health. There is
no fixed period for keeping a body before burial. The Roman Catholics
usually bury on the third or fourth day after death ; but in some
districts custom sanctions burial within twenty-four or thirty-six hours.
Local burial authorities sometimes require a medical certificate before
burial, but, there being no legal obligation for it, this is often omitted.
In cases of suicide, sudden death, or death by violence, the coroner
holds an inquest, and gives a certificate accordingly.
There are no dead-houses in Ireland, where bodies may be observed
for a period of time before burial.
SUMMARY OF ORDINANCES. 405:
Concerning burials in England, see Glen's "Burial Acts" for the
general burial practice; also "Regulations for Wilton Cemetery."
THE UNITED STATES.
In the United States of America, as a rule, everything relative to the
disposal of the dead is regulated by local Boards of Health, as authorised!
by State laws. A burial cannot take place without a certificate from
a legally licensed physician, which must state the cause of death ; the
place and time when it occurred ; the full name, age, sex, colour,
occupation, birthplace ; names and birthplaces of both parents. There
are no laws or regulations that require the inspection of the body to
verify the fact of death (the certificate, as in England, as to the cause
is considered sufficient for this purpose), and no time is fixed when a
body must or must not be buried. This is regulated by and left to
the convenience of the family of the deceased, by the season of the
year, by the opinion of the attending physician, etc. But the health
officers can order the burial whenever, in their opinion, the public
health requires it. As a rule, burials after supposed death are made
sooner in the South, and among the poor, than in the North, and
among the well-to-do classes. In remote unsettled regions burials not
seldom take place without these formalities, and they are often carried
out in a hasty manner ; but usually they do not take place till three
days after supposed death, and sometimes, particularly in cold weather,
a longer time is allowed. All large cemeteries have chambers for the
temporary deposit of bodies, but they are not under observation, as it
is taken for granted that they are dead.
SWITZERLAND.
The Swiss legislation relating to burials is committed to the authority
of the several cantons. The death is verified by a physician or an official
person appointed for that purpose. The minimum time allowed between
death and interment is fixed by each canton. In five cantons the time
limit is twenty -four hours ; in one it is fixed at thirty-two hours ; in two.
at thirty-six hours ; in fourteen cantons the period is four days ; and in
one it is six %iys. In some cantons the period of waiting is extended
during winter time ; and in some instances — cases of swoonr apoplexy,
etc. — a further extension of time is ordered. In the majority of cantons,
it is expressly forbidden to close the coffin until immediately before the
departure of the coffin.
406
APPENDIX F.
THE JEWISH PRACTICE OF EARLY BURIAL.
R. J. WUNDERHAR, in his standard work on " Biblisch-talmudische
Medicin," Riga and Leipzig, 1850-60, gives, in pp. 5-15 of the con-
cluding section (Abtheil. 4, Bd. ii.), the following summary of the
origin of the peculiar Jewish practice of burying the corpse within a
few hours of death : —
In the Levitical law (Num. xix. 11-22) every dead body was an
unclean thing, including those dead in the tent and on the battlefield.
Touching a corpse involved purification and separation for seven days.
This ordinance is supposed to have had a sanitary motive, having
probably originated with cases of infectious disease. There is only
one Biblical ordinance as to early burial, and that is indubitably
restricted to persons executed for crime: Deut. xxi. 22, 23, "And
if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to
death, and thou hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night
upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day (for he
that is hanged is accursed of God), that thy land be not defiled,
which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance." This
statutory limit to the exposure of the bodies of malefactors was the
;most convenient way of checking the practice, common in othei
.countries, of leaving corpses of criminals to hang upon the gibbet
until they rotted or were consumed by birds of prey. Its motive
was to prevent, by the promptest measure, an indefinite degree of
neglect in altogether special cases.
There is nothing else in the Bible concerning early burial ; on the
contrary, the patriarchal practice, in the case of eminent persons, seems
to have been to keep the body for a considerable time above ground,
after the manner of Egypt. Prior to the Babylonian exile there is not a
trace of the latt-r practice of speedy burial. The post-Talmudic custom
had arisen entirely from a misunderstanding. It is true that the Talmud
enjoins that corpses — according to circumstances — be kept unburied not
longer than one day; but it also permits them to lie above ground for
days, so that elaborate funeral preparations might be mad^ or time given
for mourners to arrive from a distance. Lastly, the Talmud relates the
burial of one apparently dead, who revived and lived for twenty-five
years, and begat five children; whereupon a rabbinical ordinance was
made that the corpse (which would have been laid in a vault or in a tomb
JEWISH PRACTICE OF EARLY BURIAL. 407
:above ground) should be visited diligently until three days after death.
•{The references to the Talmud are: Semachoth 8; Moedkaton I, 6;
Sabbat 151, 152; Sanhedrin, 46a.)
Wunderbar admits that there had been cases of premature burial
among the Jews, but he asserts their extreme rarity, and doubts the
-authenticity of most of the traditional or historical cases in general.
In Jewish circles in Germany, towards the end of the i8th century, there-
was much controversy as to the inexpediency of the practice of early
burial. In the Berlinische Monatschrift for April, 1787, p. 329,
(cited by Marcus Ilerz, " Ueber die friihe Beerdigung der Juden,"'
Berlin, 1788, p. 6), there is printed a letter from Moses Mendelssohn
to the Jews of Mecklenburg, in which he advises them to keep their
dead unburied for three days. "I know well," he adds, "that you
will not follow my advice ; for the might of custom is great. Nay, I
shall perhaps appear to you as a heretic on account of my counsel.
All the same, I have freed my conscience from guilt."
The above-cited essay by Dr. Marcus Herz, of Berlin, arguing against
the Jewish practice, called forth a reply by Dr. Marz, of Hanover,
who was of opinion that the burial might safely proceed after the body
had been left on the bed for three hours, and had then been pronounced
lifeless by the medical attendant, according to the practice in that part
• of the country. To that Dr. Herz rejoined, in a second edition, that
the medical attendant was no better judge than an ordinary man,
inasmuch as all experimental tests were fallacious, and decomposition
the only sure sign. He cites the following statement by an experienced
Jewish physician, Dr. Hirschberg, of Konigsberg (from the Jewish
periodical Sammler, vol. ii., p. 153): — "I have practised medicine
for forty years, and have always grieved over the practice amongst us
of too hasty burial of the dead — on the day of decease. It happened
once in my practice that a woman lay for dead three days and then
.awoke and revived. At first I would not allow the body to be moved
from the bed, but the undertaker's men violently resisted me, taking
up the body and laying it on the ground. According to their custom,
they would have buried it the same day, had I not earnestly called
• out to them: 'Beware lest you do lay her in the ground this day!
She is still alive, and the blame will be on you.' I had her covered
with warm, woollen clothes ; on the following morning some signs of
.life were manifest ; she lay still, and gradually awoke out of her
death-slumber."
Herz declared, as Wunderbar did subsequently, that the passages in
408 JEWISH PRACTICE OF EARLY BURIAL.
the Talmud on vvh-ich the Jewish custom was based had been mis-
interpreted: and he specially accused the rabbis Jacob Emden, of Altona,
and Ezechel, of Prague, of rabbinical subtilty on the one hand, and
of a fallacious dependence upon scientific signs of death on the other.
At the World's Medical Congress (Division of Eclectic Medicine),
held in Chicago, July 3, 1893, tne following resolution was proposed
by Dr. John V. Stevens, and adopted : —
" Whereas we believe that many persons in the past, in the condition
simulating death from various causes, have been buried alive ;
therefore,
'4 Resolved — That it should be the duty of all Governments to
pass laws prohibiting the burial of bodies without positive proofs
of death ; that the nature of these proofs should be taught in all
schools and printed in all newspapers throughout the world.''
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S£ VENTEENTH CENTUR Y.
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428 BIBLIOGRAPHY.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY. 437
ITALIAN ARTICLES.
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French theses (at Paris, unless otherwise stated) on apparent death,
the signs of death, danger of premature burial, etc. : —
JOUY (Montpellier), 1803. D'ALENCASTRE, 1832.
THOMASSIN (Strassbourg), 1805. CHAMPNEUF, 1832.
LAURENT, 1805. BONIFACE, 1833.
PIERRET, 1807. LINARES, 1834.
VERNEY, 1811. MENESTREL, 1838.
FOUCHER, l8l7. DE SlLVEIRA PlNTO, 1837.
CRESLON, 1819. CARRE,' 1845.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
FERRY, 1819, DOSAIS, 1858.
LEPAULMTER, 1819. GRESLON, 1858.
LEVY (Strassbourg), 1820. PARROT, 1860.
AMAND D'AMBRAINE, 1821. LEGLUDIC, 1863.
POUIER, 1823. SCHNEIDER (Strassbourg), 1863.
WEST, 1827. ACOSTA, 1864.
PIERRET, 1827. EDMOND, 1871.
GLEIZAL, 1829.
Graduation theses other than French, on the same theme : —
VAN GEEST (Lugd. Bat.), 1811. BETTMAN (Munich), 1839.
DAVIES (Edin.), 1813. SCHMIDT (Niirnberg), 1841.
GOURY (Leodii), 1828. KLUGE (Leipzig), 1842.
TSCHERNER (Breslau), 1829. WENDLER (Leipzig), 1845.
SOMMER (Havniae), 1833. KRIBBEX (Bonn), 1873.
NYMAN (Dorpat), 1835. SORGENFREY (Dorpat), 1876.
The following publications have been issued by the London Asso-
ciation for the Prevention of Premature Burial, and copies can be
obtained from the Secretary, 17 Lamb's Conduit Street, London, W.C.
Premature Burial and How it May be Prevented, by WILLIAM TEBB
and Col. E. P. VOLLUM. 4OOpp.
Premature Burial : a Reply to Dr. David Walsh, by WILLIAM TEBB.
8pp.
The Perils of Premature Burial, by Prof. ALEX. WILDER, M.D. With
Introduction by WILLIAM TEBB. 28pp.
Premature Burial, by Dr. FRANZ HARTMANN. I28pp.
How the State May Prevent Premature Burial, by EDWARD CONNOR.
Booklet, i6pp.
In Dread of Premature Burial. Reprinted from Cassell's Saturday
Journal. i6pp.
A Plan for Forming Associations for the Prevention of the Burial of
Living Persons. Fourth Edition. Booklet, I2pp.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 439
Burying Alive. Reprint, by permission, from The Spectator, September
14, 1896. 4pp. leaflet.
Premature Burial and its Prevention. A Description of the "Karnice"
Process. Leaflet, 4pp.
Burials Amendment Act. Draft of a Bill containing provisions for the
verification and certification of death previous to burial, drawn up
by a Barrister-at-Law.
How I was Buried Alive. The experience of Baron Corvo described
by himself, illustrated with drawings done under his own
supervision.
What is Death? Reprinted from The Spectator. Booklet, 2Opp.
The Signs and Proofs of Death, by SIR BENJAMIN WARD RICHARDSON,
M.D., F.R.S., etc.
Trance : Its Various Aspects and Possible Results. J. BRINDLEY
JAMES, M.R.C.S.
Considerations on Lethargy or Apparent Death, followed by a Summary
Description of the Safety Apparatus "Karnice."
Circular of the London Association for the Prevention of Premature
Burial. 4pp.
Annual Reports of the London Association for the Prevention of
Premature Burial.
INDEX.
ALDIS, Dr. C. J. B., letter on tying
up the chin after death, 389.
All the Year Round, paper cited
from, on apparent death, and
means of recovery, 314-318.
Andersen, Hans Christian, his dread
of being buried alive, 188.
Angell, Mr. George T. , 306.
Animation, suspended, in a case of
small-pox, 121. (See "Trance.")
Apathy, public, concerning live
burial, 67.
Apoplexy, Lenormand on, as cause
of apparent death, 214.
Asclepiades recovers a corpse from
the bier, 371.
Auscultation, fallacies of, in diag-
nosis of death, 307, 308
Austria, laws of, for inspection of
dead, 399.
Austrian incident of probable burial
alive, 146.
Awaking in coffin, inference as to,
at Les Innocens, Paris, 81 ; at
Philadelphia, 82; in Calcutta, 82;
at Basingstoke, 83 ; at Tonneins,
84; at Montflorin, 85; at Bohaste,
85 ; at Grenoble, 86 ; at Cesa,
Naples, 86; at Tioobayn, St.
Petersburg, 86; at Le Pin, Gre-
noble, 87 ; at Deptford, 87 ; at
Greenwood Cemetery, 88 ; at
Benovent, 88; at Novocherkask,
89; at Rudenberg, Austria, 89;
at Salon (Bouches du Rhone), 89;
at Naples, 90; at Derbisch, Bo-
hemia, 90 ; at Majola, Mantua,
91; soldier's wife, 91; in Ireland,
92; at New York (two cases), 92,
93; in India, 94, 95; Koppen's
cases of, 252-255, 385 ; case of a
Franciscan monk, at Bordeaux,
29 ,
252 ; old cases at Cologne, 373 ;
at Dijon, 373 ; at Vesoul, 374 ;
of a cardinal at Rome, 375 > °f
case related 'by Elliotson, 379;
of Robert Scott, 380; of Rev.
John Gardner, 381; of case re-
lated by Dr. Herz, 382; of Mrs.
Goodman, 383 ; cases related by
British Medical Journal, 387, 388.
BARNETT, Dr. J. M., publishes
letter on the blister test, 306.
Battlefields, burial alive in, 95-97.
Bavaria, official regulations of, for
preventing premature burial, 244;
police, instructions to, for corpse
inspection, 245, 246.
Baxter, Mr. W., on extraordinary
case of death-certification, 282.
Berkeley, Bishop, his dread of being
buried alive, 1 88.
Beugless, Mr. J. D., on the dread
of premature interment, 191.
Bibliography, seventeenth century,
409; eighteenth century, 410;
relating to humane societies, 414;
nineteenth century, 416 ; theses,
427 ; French articles, 427 ; Ger-
man articles, 430 y English and
American articles/433; Spanish
articles, 436; Italian articles, 437 ;
publications of London Associa-
tion for Prevention of Premature
Burial, 438, 439.
Billimoria, Mr. N. F. , writes to the
author on premature burning in
India, 164; relates cases of Parsees
recovered from apparent death,
170; on advantages of the Parsee
customs in assuring revival, 171.
Bishop, Mrs. Eleanor F., her escape
from premature embalming, 274.
442
INDEX.
Blau, M., certifies an escape from
live burial at Toulouse, 177.
Blavatsky, Madam, the late, had an
escape from live burial, 46.
Blunden, Madam, her burial alive
at Basingstoke, 83.
Bombay, customs in disposal of dead,
402.
Bonawitz, Mr. J. H., relates two
experiences of escape, 327-329.
Bordeaux, corpses shown in cathedral
of, which had moved in the coffin,
265.
Bouchut, Dr. E. , his book gives
sensational cases, 14; relates case
rescued alive from coffin, 152; on
tests of death, 223 ; prize for dis-
covery of death test, 318 ; case of
revival in mortuary at Cassel, 361.
Bourneville, Dr., on drunkenness as
a death counterfeit, 157.
Boussakis, M. K., eye-witness of
resuscitation of supposed corpse,
336..
Brahmin rites and superstitions,
161.
Braid, Mr. James, narrates case of
catalepsy, 66 ; on animal hiberna-
tion, 69 ; on trance in fakirs, 75 ;
on Sir Claude Wade's testimony,
77 ; cases of trance with sense of
hearing good, 379.
Brewer, Dr. , relates cases of narrow
escape, 113.
Brighouse, Mr. S., coroner, case of
child " died" four times, 358.
British Medical Journal on signs
of death, 237-240 : case of diffi-
culty in diagnosing real death,
239 ; hardly any one sign but
putrefaction infallible, 239 ; on
death - certification, 282, 283 ;
records two cases of revivals in
the coffin, 387, 388.
Broadwey, Dorset, catalepsy in a
bride at, 66.
Brouardel, Dr. P., on hibernating
animals, 71, 72; experiment on
live dog in coffin, 251 ; failure of
heart test, 223 ; on unreliability
of death signs, 303.
Brown-Sequard, Dr., on fallacy of
clenched jaws as sign of death,
222.
Bruhier, Dr., relates case of pre-
mature dissection, 276.
Brussels, regulations for verification
of death, 294, 295 ; burial regula-
tions and mortuaries of, 403.
Buffon, Comte de, on the treatment
of the dead, 256.
Bukovina, case of resuscitation in,
215.
Burial Act of 1900, 289-291.
Burial, ancient practices of, 376-379.
Burial, hasty, case of, at Roscrea,
270.
Burial, live, experiment on, at West-
minster Aquarium, 77.
Burial, premature, a class of pro-
bable cases of, 141-148 ; G. A.
Walker on risks of, 256, 257 ;
Fletcher on risks of, 258 ; number
of cases of, 261-270 ; frequency
of estimated, 261-270; Hufeland
on risks of, 262.
Burials, ancient practices, 175*
Buried alive. (See also under
"Awaking.") Rescue delayed
at Salzburg, Austria, 137 ; at
Saumur, in France, fatal delay,
138 ; fatal delay at Radstock,
139 ; at Doussard, 139 ; at Li-
moges, saved by promptness, 140.
Burning Ghat, the, of Calcutta,
visited by the author, 159.
Burton, Lady, provisions of her will
against risk of live burial, 187.
CALCUTTA, the Burning Ghat,
visited by the author, 1 59 ; burial
customs at, 402.
Cape Town, want of mortuary regu-
lations at, 402.
Carnot, M., petitions French Senate
on premature burial, 112 ; his
statistics of live burial, 264.
Carpmael, Mr. E. E., hypodermic
strychnine as a reviver, 311.
Casket, The, on testimony of opened
graves, 395 ; on hasty embalm-
ing, 395-
INDEX.
443
4< Cassell's Family Physician," ac-
count of catalepsy from, 60.
Castaldi, Signer, buried in state of
catalepsy, 325.
Catalepsy, definition and symptoms
of, 57 ; reminiscences by editor,
57, 58 ; Hartmann differentiates
trance and catalepsy, 59 ; Dr.
Gowers on, 59; " Cassell's Family
Physician " on, 60 ; Dr. Forbes
Winslow on, 60 ; Gooch on, 62 ;
cases by Jebb, 63 ; Dr. King,
63 ; Chambers, 64 ; Paris Corre-
spondent of Lancet, 65 ; Braid,
66 ; near Wey mouth, 66 ; case
of revival on eve of burial, 151,
152; Dr. Milner on, 225 ; tragic
occurrence during funeral ar-
rangements, 192 ; Signor Cas-
taldi buried alive in, 325.
Cavendish, Miss Ada, provision in
her will against risk of live
burial, 1 88.
Certificates of death, laxity of, 8,
283, 285 ; prematurely given,
292 ; case by Mr. Baxter, 282 ;
British Medical Journal on,
282-283 '•> directions for filling up,
283 ; laxity of, at Swansea,
284 ; statistics of uncertified
deaths, 288 ; in France, 294 ; in
Brussels, 294 ; in Wurtemburg,
296 ; in Dover, New Hampshire,
299 ; Dr. Brindley James on,
300; Daily Chronicle on, 301.
Ceylon, risks of premature disposal
of dead in, 163.
Chambers, Dr. T. King, relates
and cites cases of catalepsy, 64; on
number of premature burials, 261.
Chantourelle, Dr., raises debate
on premature burial at Paris
Academy of Medicine, 81.
Chew, Dr. Roger G. S., relates cases
of live burial, 82, 94; his own case
of escape from same, 124 ; other
cases of escape from same, 118-
120 ; case of burial alive, 135 ;
case of chloroformed girl buried
as dead, 155 ; on cholera col-
lapse mistaken for death, 156 ;
in cerebral concussion, 157 ; in
various predisposing diseases, 158;
on safety of soldiers in India from
live burial, 166 ; on putrefactive
test, 225 ; on rigor mortis, 228 ;
fallacy of post - mortem stains,
230 ; on frequency of live burial,
268 ; on auscultation sounds after
death, 308 ; cases of revival in
mortuaries in India, 361-363.
Chloroform, effects of, simulating
death, 155.
Cholera, special risk of live burial
in cases of, 118, 119, 120, 182;
case of burial alive in, 135.
Chri, Mr. Vira Raghava, describes
disposal of dead at Madras, 161.
Chunder Sen, Mr., relates case of
trance in a fakir, 74-
Cobbe, Miss Frances Power, per-
sonal recollections, 126 ; direc-
tions in will, 272.
Coffins, sounds from the, 134, 135.
Colerus, on apparent death, 376.
Collins, Sir W. J., advises the
providing of mortuaries, 354«
Cologne, old instances of revival at,
372, 373-
Colombo, a Catholic priest of, sub-
ject to death-trances, 160.
Coriclamation, practice of, by the
Caribs, 377 ; in antiquity, 377 ;
in Russia, 377 5 in the case of the
Widow of Nain's son, 378.
Conclusions, summary of, 366-370.
Constantinople, risks of live burial
at, 178.
Continental evidence on hasty
burials, 177.
Cooper, Mr. M. , surgeon, on appa-
rent deaths, 13 ; relates case of
Madame Blunden, 83 ; case at
Toulouse of escape from live
burial, 177 ; condemns hasty
burial, 207, 208 ; on risks of dis-
section, 275.
Creighton, Dr. C., his " History of
Epidemics" cited, 332.
Cremation, at Calcutta, 1595 hasty
disposal of apparently dead, 160 ;
among Brahmins at Madras, 161 ;
444
INDEX.
at Benares, 162 ; as a preventa-
tive of premature burial, 324-334 ;
society, precautions of, 329 ; ap-
proved on general grounds, 331 ;
prejudice against, 331 ; Rev. J.
P. Hopps on, 331 ; Bishop of
Manchester on, 332 ; resolution
of Glasgow Health Congress, 333 ;
in Japan, 334 ; in India, 334.
Crom, Dr. K. H., case of resusci-
tation at sea, 183.
Crowe, Mrs., cases related by, 381.
Curran, Dr. W., brigade-surgeon,
relates case of premature dis-
section, 280.
Curry, Dr. James, women pre-
disposed to death-counterfeits,
150; on slow ebbing of life, 213;
cases cited from, 273.
Cvetskens, Maria,asleep 3Oodays, 54.
"Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine,"
on premature dissections, 276 ;
relates remarkable case of revival
after apparent death, 385.
Daily Chronicle on lax death-
certification, 301.
Dalmatia, ordinances of, for inspec-
tion of dead, 401.
Danger in wasting diseases, 117.
Danger of hasty burials, 175.
Daskalaki, Marie, asleep five
months, 53.
Davies, Major-General T., his ac-
count of hibernating jerboa, 68.
Dead, the treatment of, 256 ; Buftbn
on same, 256 ; G. A. Walker on,
256, 257 ; Fletcher on, in United
States, 258 ; Whiter on, 259 ; as
a department of medical practice,
259, 260.
Death-certification, 282-302 ; extra-
ordinary case by Mr. Baxter, 282 ;
British Medical fournal on, 282,
283 ; laxity of, at Swansea,
284 ; Select Committee on, pur-
port of its evidence, 284, 285 ;
evidence before, 284 ; recom-
mendations of, 285 ; support of
same at medical meeting. 286 ;
statistics of uncertified deaths,
288 ; resolution of London Asso-
ciation, 291 ; Col. Volluin on,
291, 292 ; curious error in, 292 ;
unreliability of, 368. (See under
" Certificates.")
Death, counterfeits of, 56, 366 ;
their duration, 248-255 ; Josat's
table of same, 249 ; Koppen's
illustrations of same, 252.
Death, signs of, 219-247 ; popular,
219 ; scientific, 220-247 ; Dr.
Brouardel on their unreliability,
303 ; illusory nature of, 368. (See
also under " Tests of Death.")
" Death " to life in the grave, 89-91.
Death, sudden, the only real cases
of, 194 ; Farr on definition of,
195 ; Granville on same, 195 ;
Tidy on causes of, 196 ; Wilder
on same, 198; recent instances of
from newspapers, 199-207; from
heart disease, 216 ; Manchester
Criterion on revivals from, 217 ;
Dr. Wilder on risks of premature
burial in, 217 ; laws against early
burial after, 218.
Death, uncertainty of, 73 ; G. A.
Walker on, 256, 257 ; London
Review on, 371.
Death, verification of, 292-300.
Denmark, burial and mortuary regu-
lations of, 403.
Diaphanous test, the failure of, 225;
Haward on, 225 ; Orfila on, 228 ;
Richardson on, 227.
Diembroeck, case of trance, 52.
Dijon, case of awaking in the tomb
at, 373- .
Disintegration, the process of, 271.
Disraeli, Benjamin, endures a
week's trance, 46.
Dissection, premature, probable case
of, related by Ogston, 275 ; Bru-
hier's cases of, 280 ; Louis' case
of, 277 ; " Cyclopaedia of Practi-
cal Medicine " on stories of, 276 ;
Le Guern's case of, 279 ; Hart-
mann's case of, 279 ; Curran's
case of, 280 ; case at Lille, 365 ;
by Vesalius, 278 ; of a Spanish
lady, 279.
INDEX.
445
Dogs, their instinct for the pre-
sence of life in Parsee ceremonies,
173; in an Austrian case, 173;
in a Moravian case, 173 ; experi-
ments on deprivation of air, 251.
Donnellan, Dr., on hypodermic in-
jection after apparent death from
electric shock, 312.
Donnet, Cardinal Archbishop, re-
lates to French Senate cases of
narrow escape from live burial,
109-113, including his own case,
ill.
Doubtful cases of premature burial,
141.
Douce, Francis, the antiquary, his
fear of being buried alive, 187.
Dover, New Hampshire, ordinances
of, for verification of death, 299.
Drowned, recovery of the, 392 ;
cases of, by Struve, 392 ; Londe's
case of, 393 ; Green's case of,
394 ; cases of (Royal Humane
Society), 395.
Dryden, Lady, her testamentary
provisions, 379.
Duncan, Dr. Ebenezer, statistics of
Glasgow burials, 333.
Duncan, Dr. J. M., case of revival
in Kansas Mortuary, 364.
Duration of death-counterfeits, 248-
255 ; statistics of, 249 ; experi-
ments on, 251 ; Koppen's illus-
trations of, 252-254.
Duration of life in a coffin, 250.
ELECTRICITY as a restorative agent,
309; Dr. Donellan on, 312.
Elliotson, Dr., case related by, 379.
Embalming, makes death certain,
271; cases of premature, 273-275 ;
cases of escape from same, 274 ;
authority of Home Secretary ad-
vised for, 232 ; hasty, in the
United States, 395.
Empedocles, his recovery of woman
supposed dead, 376.
Escape from dissection at Lille, 365.
Escape from live burial, 98- 1 32 ; case
of Dr. Hadwen's, 98 ; case of
lady possessed of her own death-
certificate, IOO ; case of North
Staffordshire (1903), 100 ; case
certified dead by local doctor,
loo ; case in Hungary (1902),
1 01 ; case certified dead by two
doctors, 101 ; case at St. Louis
(1893), 101 ; case certified by
coroner, 101 ; case at Sprakers,
Rondout, N.Y., 101 ; case of
Mrs. Wright, of Ilford (1897),
103 ; case of resuscitation thirteen
days after death, 103 ; case of Sir
W. Lindsay, 1 04; case at Coventry
(1858), 105 ; case at St. Agnan
de Cenuieres, 106 ; case of pro-
fessor's wife at Tubingen, 107 ;
case related by Dr. F. A. Floyer,
108 ; case related by Cardinal
Donnet, 109-113; Dr. Brewer on,
113; Dr. Richardson, case ot
catalepsy, 114; two cases of,
related by Dr. M. S. Tanner,
114 ; case of Dr. O'Neill, of Lin-
coln, 115 ; Dr. Fletcher describes
two cases, 116; in case related
by Dr. Colin Valentine, 117;
in case related by Dr. Stephenson,
117 ; Dr. R. G. S. Chew's cases,
118-120; in small-pox at Glouces-
ter, 121 ; The Lancet, in cases of
small-pox, 121 ; in consumption
and epilepsy, 122, 123 ; Dr. R. G.
S. Chew's personal experience of,
124, 125 ; Miss Frances Power
Cobbe's recollections, 126 ; in the
case of the Metropolitan of Lesbos,
127 ; case of the daughter of
British Consul coffined alive, 128 ;
incident at Vagueray, near Lyons,
128 ; case of woman at Burham,
near Rochester, 129; case at St.
Leonards, 129; an awful experi-
ence at Hey wood, 130 ; at Mil-
itsch, Silesia, 130 ; after being
declared dead by several doctors,
131 ; restored on the way to the
funeral (1901), 132; after being
laid out for dead at Tulle, 132 ;
Mr. T. Wright narrates a case,
132 ; formalities, fatal conse-
quences of, 133 ; Koppen, H. F.,
446
INDEX.
case of rescue from grave fatally
delayed, 134 ; case at Brompton,
364; in a U.S.A. field hospital,
364 ; in a mortuary at Hamburg,
363 ; in mortuaries in India, 361-
363 ; in a Brussels mortuary,
360 ; in a Cassel mortuary, 361 ;
in a Lille mortuary, 365 ; in a
Buffalo mortuary, 363 ; in a
Marylebone mortuary, 364.
Escapes from being cremated alive
in India, 162-165.
Exhumation, without an order, 91,
92; law of, in England, 134;
cases of, too late for rescue, 133-
140; case of, in time to save life,
140.
FABRI, William, condemns hasty
burial, 208.
Fagge, Dr. Hilton, on trance, 42;
on risk of live burial in cases of
sudden death, 214; on putrefac-
tion as the only certain sign of
death, 229.
Fakirs, cases of trance in, 74, 75 ;
experiment with, related by Hart-
mann, 75' 7^-
Farquharson, Dr. R., M.P., on lax
death-certification, 287.
Farr, Dr. William, on definition of
sudden death, 195.
Fear of premature burial, Spectator
on, 12, 13, 186-193 ; eminent
subjects of, 186-189; Rev. John
Kingston on prevalence of, 190;
justifiable, 367.
Figaro, Le, correspondence in, on
live burial, 269.
Fletcher, Dr. Moore Russell, on
animal hibernation, 70; relates
cases of narrow escape, 1 1 6, 117;
on negligent treatmentof the dead,
258; on restoratives, 311.
Floyer, Dr. F. A., relates case of
narrow escape, 108.
Fluorescin as a test of death, 312.
Forestus on possibility of recovering
supposed dead, 376.
Formalities, fatal consequences of,
France, laws of, relating to burials,.
399-
Frankfort, regulations for inspection
of the dead, 398.
Froriep, M., cited as to ratio ot
revivals in grave, 263.
GAIRDNKR, Dr. W. T., case of
trance for twenty-three weeks, 46.
Gannal, Dr. Felix, his valuable bib-
liography, on putrefaction the only
real test, 230; on fallacious signs
of death, 230-232.
Gaubert, M., his estimate of ratio of
live burials, 240, 267 ; his essay
proves that wailing mortuaries are
useful, 360.
Gazette Medicate <? Orient asserts live
burials at Constantinople, 178.
Gazette Medicate on putrefactive
test, 229.
Germany, waiting mortuaries of,
369 ; movement in, to prevent
premature interment, 178.
Gibbons, Dr. P. }., on premature
embalming, 273.
Glasgow, Health Congress, resolu-
tion as to cremation, 333.
Gloucester, burial of cholera patients,
118 ; narrow escape in small-pox,
121.
Glycas, Nicephorus, Metropolitan
of Lesbos, escapes live burial, 127.
Goa, resident of, prematurely cof-
fined, 164.
Godfrey, Mrs., case of, 384.
Gooch, Dr., his case of catalepsy,
62, 63.
Goodman, Mrs., celebrated case of,
383-
Gowers, Dr. W. R., on trance, 51 ;
on catalepsy, 43 ; on predisposi-
tion to same, 150.
Granville, Dr. A. B., on sudden
death, 195.
Graveyards, how they tell their tale,
81.
Green, Anne, case of, at Oxford,
375-
Green, Dr. J. W. , case of tardy~
recovery after immersion, 394.
INDEX.
447
Guern, M. le, his experience of
frequency of live burial, 264 ; re-
lates case of premature dissection,
279.
Guy, Dr. W. A., on neglect of the
subject in England, 7.
HADWEN, Dr., case of catalepsy,
57-59 > case °f escape from live
burial, 98 ; conditions in city
slums, 175.
Hanged person, the heart beating
at the dissection of a, 210; re-
covery of a, 375.
Hanham, Mr. T. C. Swinburne, on
safeguards used by Cremation
Society, 329, 330.
Harbutt, Mr. Wm., case of burial
alive at Radstock, 139.
Hartmann, Dr. Franz, his essay pub
lished at Boston, U.S., 7; dis-
tinguishes trance from catalepsy,
59 ; case of fakir, 79 ; case of
revival after burial, 114; relates
two cases of rescue from live
burial fatally delayed, 136; case
of catalepsy revived, 151 ; case
of Orrendo's body found beside
the empty coffin, 152 ; on predis-
posing causes of trance, 158 ;
relates case of resuscitation from
spasms of the heart, 215 ; on put-
refaction the sole test of death,
230, 231 ; on frequency of live
burial, 269 ; cases of premature
dissection, 2/4-279 ; two cases of
escape from death after formal
certification, 326.
Haward, Dr. Edwin, case of failure
of diaphanous test, 225.
Haweis, Rev. H. R., advocates
cremation to prevent live burial,
327-
Hearing, sense of, in suspended
animation, 377, 378, 379.
Heart, stoppage of, as test of death,
223.
Hedley, Dr. W. S. , on use of elec-
tricity as a restorative, 310.
Herachborg, Dr., relates case of a
Jewess rescued from the under-
takers, 178, 407. (Hirschberg.)
Hereford, Chief Constable of, cases
of trance narrated by, 54.
Heron, Dr., dread of premature
burial, 189.
Hertz, Dr. Marcus, opposes hasty
burial among the Jews, 179, 467.
Hibernation, instance of, in the
jerboa, 68 ; Braid on, in lower
animals, 69 ; Russell Fletcher on,
in reptiles and fishes, 70 ; the
bear, 71 ; Dr Brouardel on,
71, 72 ; Hufeland on, 73 ;
case of Col. Townshend, 73 ;
self-induced trance in fakirs, 74 ;
strange fakir feats, 75 ; Royal
Aquarium, buried alive, 77; Hart-
mann, case of fakir, 79.
Hibernation, so-called human, 72,
73-
Hincks, Amelia, a case of narrow
escape, 105.
Hindrances, legal, to disinterment,
367.
Hindus, their motive for speedy
disposal of dead, 162.
Historical cases, appendix of, 371.
Holmes, Mrs. Basil, on the exten-
sion of burial-grounds, 333.
Honigberger, Dr. J. M., his re-
searches on trance in India, 80.
Hopps, Rev. J. Page, advocates
cremation to prevent live burial,
331-
Hotels, hasty burials from, on the
Continent, 185.
Howard, Col., of Co. Wicklow, his
escape from live burial, 126.
Howard, John, dread of premature
burial, 188.
Hufeland, Dr. C. W., on trance, 44;
narrates narrow escape from live
burial, 107 ; on risks and horrors
of live burial, 262 ; devised the
Weimar mortuary, 339.
Humane Society, the Royal, cases
from its reports, 382, 383, 384 ;
literature relating to, 392.
Hypodermic medicines as restora-
tives or tests, 311.
448
INDEX.
ICARD, Dr., discovery of test for
death, 312 ; prize awarded, 319 ;
instances of resuscitation in ap-
parent death, 335, 336 ; on wait-
ing mortuaries, 336, 337.
India, cases of burial alive, by Dr.
Chew, 82 ; premature burial and
cremation in, 159-174 ; Mr. Billi-
moria on the risks of the same,
164; soldiers in, not liable to risk
of same, 166 ; cremation in, 334.
Infants, recovery of supposed dead,
386-390.
Influenza followed by trance, 154.
Ireland, hasty burial in, 270 ; prac-
tice of burial in, 404 ; no mortu-
aries in, 354, 355.
Irvine, Mr. Clarke, on popular
trust in the signs of death, 243.
JACKSON, Dr., of Somerby, relates
case of supposed death by
lightning-stroke, 221.
James, Dr. J. Brindley, on risks of
live burial, 300.
Japan, cremation in, 334.
Jaws, clenching of, as signs of death,
221.
Jebb, Dr. John, his graphic case of
catalepsy, 63
Jerboa, the, its hibernation, 68.
Jewish law, danger of, 142.
Jewish World, on the special risk of
live burial amongst Jews, 179.
Jews, hasty burials among, opposed,
179 ; cases of, restored to life by
delay, 179, 180, 181 ; their law
of burial criticised, 179 ; funeral
practices of, 377 ; history of their
practice of early burial, 406 ; dis-
cussions on same, 407.
Jeypore, fakir in a trance at, 74.
Johnson, Walter, exhibits himself in
a trance, 115.
Jones, Rev. Harry, relates cases of
escape from live burial, 120.
Josat, Dr., on absence of cardiac
action at birth, 223 ; statistics of
duration of apparent death, 248 ;
case of revival in mortuary at
Frankfort-on-the- Maine, 360.
Joseph, Mr. , on risks of premature
burial or burning in Ceylon, 163.
KARNICE - KARNICKI, Count,
method of invention, 186; descrip-
tion of apparatus, with illustra-
tions, 319-323.
Kempner, examination of grave-
yards, 8 1.
Kenny, Dr. J. E., M.P., disposal
of the dead in Ireland, 354, 355.
Kerthomas, M. H. L., relates re-
vival of corpse at Lille, 365.
Kesteven, Mr. W. B., on fallacy of
cardiac test of death, 223.
Kingston, Rev. John, reality of live
burial, 190.
Kite, Dr. Charles, on uncertain
signs of death, 10.
Koppen, II. F., case of rescue from
grave fatally delayed, 134; cases
of long vitality in coffin or grave,
252-254 ; cites estimate of ratio
of live burials, 261.
Korff, Ruben, coil as a test of death,
309-
Kuhn, Dr., reports on trance, 80.
LAGENBERG, Van, Dr., information
from, as to premature burials at
Colombo, 160.
Lancet, The, on the horror of live
burial, 1 1 : case of catalepsy at
Dunkirk, 65 ; on reality of prema-
ture interment, 89 ; burial alive in
France, 93 ; on a case of revival
from death- trance at Nuneaton,
105 ; cases of escape in small-
pox, 121 ; case of premature
encoffinment, 122 ; on cholera
patients buried alive, 182 ; on
diagnosis of apparent death, 235,
236 ; burial alive at Bordeaux,
265, 266 ; on mortuaries, 339,
340 ; on recovery of the still-
born, 390, 391.
Lancisi, Dr., his belief in reanima-
tion, 10 ; opposes delay in burial,
176.
Laurens, Miss, her recovery from
apparent death, 384.
INDEX.
449
Lee, General, subject to trance
seizures, 45 ; buried alive, 45.
Lenormand, Dr. Leonce, enumer-
tes death-like conditions, 158 ; on
apparent death in cases of apo-
plexy, 214 ; on delay of asphyxia
in coffin, 250 ; estimates ratio of
live burials, 264 ; on laxity of the
medecins verificateurs, 293 ; on
value of mortuary system in Ber-
lin* 359, S^o.
Lesbos, Greek Orthodox Metro-
politan of, his escape from live
burial, 127.
Lethargy, synonym of trance, 46-58.
Levitical law of corpses and burials,
406.
Lightning-stroke, cases of apparent
death from, 390.
Lignieres, Dr. de, on premature
burials from hotels, 185 ; on large
ratio of uncertain deaths, 241.
Lille, revivals in mortuaries at, 365.
Lindsay, Sir W., his escape from
live burial, 104.
Lisbon, case of cataleptic trance,
242.
Londe, Dr. Charles, on cold pre-
disposing to live burial, 153;
on duration of breathing in a
coffin, 250 ; relates case of tardy
recovery after immersion, 393.
London Association for Prevention
of Premature Burial, resolution,
291 ; list of publications, 438, 439.
London, burial-grounds of, 333 ;
mortuaries of, 349-354 ; revivals
in mortuaries, 364, 365.
Looking-glass test of death, 219.
Louis, Dr. Antoine, relates case of
premature dissection, 277.
Lusitanus, Dr. Zacutus, witness of
revival in a coffin, 336.
Lytton, Edward Bulwer, baron, his
dread of being buried alive, 188.
MACNISH, Dr., on trance, 51.
Madden, Dr. T. More, cases of
death- counterfeits, 49-51.
Manchester, Bishop of, on crema-
tion, 332.
Manchester Criterion on revivals
after sudden death, 217.
Manning, Rev. Owen, case of, 383.
Martineau, Harriet, provision of her
will against risk of live burial,
188.
Marylebone, case of recovery in the
mortuary of, 364.
Mason, Good, case of death-trance,
44-
Mason, Mr. R. B., of Nuneaton,
authenticates case of narrow
escape, 105.
Maze, Dr., award of Dusgate prize
(1890), 319.
Mifctecins verificateurs •, their duties
perfunctorily discharged, 292, 293.
Medical Examiner on putrefactive
test, 229.
Medical experiences of escape from
live burial, 113-117.
Medical Times and Hospital Gazette
on Cardinal Donnet's cases of live
burial, 109-113 ; on vivisection of
a criminal, 210 ; on hospital mor-
tuaries, 352 ; on Burial Act, 290,
291.
Medical training, absence of, in
trance, etc., 369.
Medicine, profession of, sceptical as
to death-trance and live burial,
141 ; a new sphere of work for,
260.
Mendelssohn, Moses, writes against
early burial, 406.
Milner, Dr. Ebenezer, on rigor
mortis, 225.
Mission, M. Max, his opinion on
frequency of live burial, 264 ; in-
stances cited by, 372.
Mistakes, fatal, in trance, 55.
Mitchell, Dr. S. Weir, case of ap-
parent death, 220.
Mody, Ervad Jivanji, his explana-
tion of the Sagdeed at Parsee
funerals, 168 ; on the use of the
chain at the Towers of Silence,
169.
Molloy, J. F., alleges trance in B.
Disraeli, 53.
450
INDEX.
Monteverdi, M., his test of death,
233-
Moore, Dr. G., on so-called human
hibernation, 72, 73.
Mortuaries, an illustration of their
use, 337 > their history, 338, 339 ;
the Lance f s approval of, 339 ;
waiting, should be established in
all sanitary districts, 369 ; move-
ment in favour of, began in France,
338 ; first executed in Germany,
338 ; new and sumptuous ex-
ample of, at Munich, 341 ; as
now existing in London, 349-354 ;
Sir W. J. Collins on, 354 ; sug-
gestions for their improvement
and extension, 353 : Medical
Times on those of hospitals, 352 ;
as now existing in provincial
towns, 354 ; want of, in Ireland,
354> 355 '•> objections answered,
356-359 ; those of Brussels, 360 ;
of Berlin, 359 ; of Frankfort-on-
the-Maine, 360; of Cassel, 361 ;
of India, 361 ; of Hamburg, 363 ;
of United States of America, 363 ;
of London, 364 ; of Lille, 365 ;
utility of, 359-365-
Moscow, burial customs at, 403.
Mount Edgcumbe, Lady, buried in
trance, 46.
Munich, new sumptuous mortuary
at, 341-349 ; utility of the mor-
tuary at, 349, 357 ; ordinances
of, for ascertaining death, 401.
Myers, on trance, 41.
NARROW escapes from premature
burial, 98.
Necker, Madam, her practical sug-
gestions to prevent live burial,
338.
Needle test of death, 232.
Netherlands, the, .burial laws of,
398.
Newsholme, Dr A. , on unregistered
still-births, 398.
Noises from the tomb, 92-95.
Nowroji, Mr. Ardeshar, on prema-
ture exposure of the dead among
Parsees, 169.
Number, probable, of live burials,
261.
Nuneaton, authentic case at, of
narrow escape, 105.
Nusserwanje, Air. Dadabhoy, on
cases of restored animation in
Parsees, 169.
OBJECTIONS to waiting mortuaries
answered, 356-359.
O'Connell, Daniel, his dread of
being buried alive, 188.
Ogston, Professor Francis, records
probable case of premature dis-
section, 275.
O'Neill, Dr. W., relates case of
narrow escape, 115.
Ordinances. (See under " Regula-
tions.")
Orfila, M., diaphanous test useless,
228.
O'Rourke, Mr. John, on hurried
embalming, 396.
Orrendo, case of, at Kronstadt, 152.
Ouseley, Rev. J. G., estimates ratio
of live burials, 263.
PARK, Dr. Anna, three times in
danger of burial alive, 52.
Parsees, their mode of disposing of
the dead, 167, 173 ; their pre-
judice against persons restored to
life, 170, 173.
Patzki, Dr. J. H., his case of re-
covery by artificial respiration,
3I3-
Pembroke, Willian, Earl of, em-
balmed, 273.
Perspiration a sign of revival, 49.
Petitions for prevention of prema-
ture burial, 266, 267.
Phelps, Lieut. -General A., advo-
cates cremation to prevent live
burial, 327.
Plato, his reason for advising tardy
disposal of dead, 176, 376 ; re-
lates a case of revival, 371.
Pliny gives instances of the dead
restored, 372.
Plutarch, case of revival cited from,
371.
INDEX.
45
Prasad, Mr. Durga, relates escape
from burning alive, 162.
Predisposition to trance, in drunken-
ness, 157 > from nervous exhaus-
tion, 149 ; in women, 151 ; from
cold, 153 ; after influenza, 154 ;
from narcotics, 155 ; in cholera,
156 ; in various morbid states,
157, 158-
Pregnancy, apparent death during,
107.
Premature burial, special risks, 367.
Premature encoffinment, cases by
Dr. Icard, 336, 337.
Presentiments and their realisation,
96, 97-
Prevention, means of, by test of
senses, 305 ; by exciting the skin,
305, 306 ; by auscultation, 307 ;
by electricity, 309-311 ; by hypo-
dermic injection, 311; Dr. Icard's
discovery, 312 ; by artificial re-
spiration, 313 ; summary of, in
All the Year Round, 314-318;
prizes for discovery of, 318. (See
also under " Tests of Death.")
Prix Dusgate, 318, 424.
Prix d'Ourches, 318, 423.
Prix Manni> 318, 421.
Prize by the Brussels Royal Aca-
demy, 412.
Publisher, a well-known, relates to
the author a case of narrow
escape, 128.
Putrefaction the one safe test of
death, Dr. Chew on, 228 ; Dr.
Fagge on, 229 ; Medical Ex-
aminer on, 230 ; Dr. Gannal on,
230 ; only real safeguard, 369.
Pye-Smith, Dr. P. H., on caution
to be used in cases of trance. 214
(foot-note).
QUENSTEDT on dormancy of vital
principle, 377.
Quintilian gives reason for tardy
burial by the Romans, 176.
RACHEL, Mile, (actress), said to have
been prematurely embalmed, 274.
Ratio of live burials, and estimate
of, 261-264.
Recommendations of the authors,
366-370.
Regulations against early burial
after sudden death, 218 ; in
Wiirtemburg for ascertaining real
death, 234 ; in Bavaria for same,
244-247 ; in the Netherlands,
398 ; Frankfort, 398 ; France,
399 ; Austria, 400 ; Vienna, 400 ;
Dalmatia, 401 ; Saxony, 401 ;
Munich, 401 ; Calcutta, 402 ;
Bombay, 403 ; Cape Town, 403 ;
Moscow, 403 ; Brussels, 403 ;
Denmark, 404 ; Spain, 404 ; Ire-
land, 405 ; United States, 405 ;
Switzerland, 405.
Rescue from live burial fatally-
delayed by formalities, 133 ; cases
of, 133-140.
Respiration, artificial, in case of
apparent death, 313.
Respiration, failure of, as test of
death, 222.
Resuscitation, cases of. (See under
" Awaking," " Escapes," and
" Rescue.")
Revival in mortuaries, 359-365.
Richardson, Sir B. W., his paper
on the "Absolute Signs of Death,"
7 ; cites case of narrow escape,
114 ; on effects of narcotics simu-
lating death, 155 ; his enumera-
tion of signs of death, 222, 223 ;
applies the test of death in a case,
227 ; on electricity test, 309.
Rigor mortis a sign of death, 225.
Risks, special, of premature burial,
367.
Romans, ancient, their burial prac-
tices, 175, 375-378.
Roper, Dr., relates cases of still-
born recovered, 390.
Rose, Mr. John, dread 
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